They both climbed out of the cave, and he walked her back to church with barely another word.
The leaves on the old oak trees were turning to gold, and there was getting to be a bit of a chill in the air. Autumn in Gynt was beautiful, but the evenings were changing fast, and Penn missed the long summer days.
He continued on to Mrs Beale's house to visit Madeleine. He did feel guilty, but his love for Madeleine was undiminished. He would have to work especially hard to prove himself worthy of her.
Dee and Mrs Beale were talking quietly in the front room. Everyone else was gathered around the kitchen table, peeling vegetables and chatting. They welcomed him in, offering him a chair and a drink, and didn't comment on his lateness.
For the first time, he talked of the strangeness of village life to the healers, and it was almost a relief to have all of his shadowy worries out in the open. Everyone was sympathetic, and Pamela offered some advice.
“Penn, you are right, the village has changed. We'll work out something for you. I think it would be too dangerous for you to go to school now. It must be quiet at your house now.”
Poe put her arm around him, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and hugged him, as if he needed comforting. Penn didn't mind the unexpected show of affection, but was a little mystified. Did he need sympathy?
Poe asked him then,
“Where is your mother, Penn?”
The question brought him to panic. His mother? He had a mother? He could not put a face to her. When was the last time he had seen her? How many months had he lived alone with Dee, and ignored his mother's empty bedroom? When was the last time he had given her a single thought?
The panic soon subsided, and that blanket of calm washed over him again. Soon, all that remained was a vague disquiet, and he couldn't even remember Poe's exact question. He knew that she had asked something momentous, but it had slipped through his fingers.
Tsanja joined them that evening for dinner. Everyone could see that she was distracted, and was desperately trying to hang on to her usual reserve. She told them what she knew of the things that had gone wrong in Gynt, and how she could drive back the shadows over her memory for short periods, but it was not enough. Fortunately, Penn thought, Madeleine did not realise the main reason for her distraction.
Mrs Beale asked them all to come and stay at her house.
“Come stay with us, Penn, Dee, you would be happier here, and this house has its own protections. Tsanja, dear, you would be safer here, too.”
There was plenty of room in the house, and room enough for each of them.
Tsanja demurred, saying that there was always plenty to do around the church and the school.
Penn's heart raced at the thought of spending more time with Madeleine, and he looked eagerly at Dee, hoping that she would want to stay too.
“It would be nice, Penn, yes, let's both stay. Mrs Beale tells me that I have a little magic, and will show me how to make choker charms. If we ever get out of this place, there will be a need for protection against Lilith's servants.”
Penn started; had Dee realised that Madeleine could not longer make them? Had she realised that not even Tsanja could make them any more?
Everyone looked happy at the newly organised arrangements.
“This will be cosy, won't it?” Pamela suggested sensibly.
-----
Dee spent most of her days with Mrs Beale now. Somehow, the pair had gathered that Madeleine and Tsanja had given away their powers. As Dee was the only remaining virgin in the house, perhaps the only one in Gynt, Mrs Beale began to teach her how to put together the choker charms.
It was a pleasurable task, but difficult.
Mrs Beale was always bringing in new stones, goodness knew where she found them, and gave Dee a single sheet of a strange, black, leather. She showed Dee how to cut fine strips from the hide, which was supple, and strong, and very easy to work. Dee's fingers became quite stained, and the smell of the tanned leather was divine.
Dee liked to settle a hand amongst the stones, and they somehow elicited a pleasurable warmth in her body. Each was a slightly different shape, and she liked to pick it up, and gaze into it. She could detect a faint wisp of something like smoke, constantly shifting and moving, in the centre, and it glowed, ever so slightly.
Setting the stone into the leather cord was the hardest part. The leather had to hold the stone firmly, and she could not use any fastenings, only knots, the intricacy of which she had taken many days to master. As each stone was set in place, and the knots tied, magic was required to complete the charm.
The first few times, Mrs Beale helped her.
“It is the warming of the stone against your skin which extends the stone's influence, ands binds it to the leather. It takes some skill, but you will know when the binding is done.”
Mrs Beale held Dee's hand, with a choker in it, under Dee's shirt and against her ribs.
“Wait ...”
As Dee held the stone against herself, she began to feel a series of emotions.
It was strange. The red stone was eliciting her maternal instinct. She had never felt the remotest attraction to any boy, or any baby, so this was unusual to her.
She felt a wave of love flowing through her. As it began to carry her away, her affection was concentrated in the warm stone. It was a funny thought, but if someone had wanted to take it from her in that instant, she would have fought them to keep it, she would have scratched and kicked, not wanting to let go, not trusting anyone but herself to hold the stone. Her love for the stone spilled over, and Dee found herself desperately wanting to hold a child, to love it, to protect it, to feed it from her breasts, to watch it grow.
Tears leaked from her eyes as she felt an answering warmth, a wave of love and affection. It emanated from the stone itself. Her heart soared with love, and she so much wanted a real person to be its object.
“Now, say the words ...”, said Mrs Beale.
Dee recited the verse she had been taught, and gripped the stone tight, and it flashed, a burst of heat filling her hand.
She knew that the magic was complete. The stone was aware, and had become part of the leather choker, and was ready to protect the wearer.
Mrs Beale was still holding her hand, and looked at her with concern in her eyes.
“It is beautiful, Dee, but it is tiring. One day, I will show you the source of the leather, the source of the stones.
“Only do as many as you feel you are able.”
Dee was enraptured. Making the charms was necessary, as there would always be people who needed protection from the demon, and it lifted her spirits.
Making the charms was also tiring, it was emotionally draining, and she still held the memory of the love from the stones. More and more she wanted to hold a child, to love it, and to watch it grow into a person. Not just any child. No, Dee wanted her own.
Madeleine had made scores of the charms. Dee could now understand why she had wanted so much to have Penn's baby.
-----
Mrs Beale had put away plenty of dry goods, but with autumn deepening towards winter, the fruit and vegetables were running low. She prepared some lovely spiced dishes, but Penn and Dee had not eaten meat for some time. They began to feel quite hungry, and could not help noticing that the others ate only sparingly, and would only watch as they themselves ate. Tsanja ate heartily when she visited, and still spent a lot of time out of the house, at the church, or at the school, but there were no students now.
Was Tsanja still trying to hide the village?
Penn joined Madeleine in her bed every night now, and the household did not deign to notice. At first, he felt quite self-conscious, but Madeleine didn't make any attempt to hide his visits. His one time with Tsanja was all but forgotten as the young lovers learnt how to give each other pleasure, and Penn began to wonder what it would feel like to be married, to give himself up to Madeleine. He supposed that, in the eyes of the Gods, he already was married to her.
In the afternoons, Madeleine spent long hours in Poe's room, with the door closed. Penn was always curious about what Madeleine and Poe were doing in there.
When Madeleine left the door open one time, he could not resist looking in.
Poe was lying sideways on her bed, and Madeleine was beside her, with her face under Poe's robe. Poe was stroking Madeleine's hair, slowly, lovingly. Penn thought that perhaps Madeleine might be crying, so he entered the room silently, to ask what was amiss.
Soon, however, the little noises gave it away, and he realised that Madeleine was suckling on Poe's breast.
“Come on, greedy guts,” whispered Poe to Madeleine, “Get off, we have a visitor. Penn, would you like a turn?”
Madeleine disengaged, and she had a strange smile on her face. Her gaze was vacant. At first, she looked right through Penn. It was a few moments before she showed any sign of recognition at all, and the smile became more familiar as she turned towards him.
Poe sat upright, moving her robe across her front, and lifted one breast out. It was not an old woman's breast. It was firm, and youthful, the aureole generous, the nipple pink. White droplets glistened, and she lay back on the bed again, turning to face Penn, and she put her arms out, motioning Penn to join her.
Madeleine looked on in amusement, and Penn felt his mouth begin to water. Warm, fresh, milk! He started to wonder what it would be like.
At that moment, Pamela put her hand on Penn's shoulder. She must have been watching from the doorway.
“Come with me, Penn. Poe has her hands plenty full with Madeleine. Come with me, and I will help you with your hunger.”
Penn's heart beat wildly. Had he seriously considered taking Poe's nipple into his mouth? Now he was being offered the same with Pamela. Her promise was already visible, as the material covering her breasts darkened with moisture. Whatever Madeleine was doing with Poe, Penn felt that he would know it soon with Pamela.
To this strange household, it was as if breastfeeding your house guests was the most natural thing in the world. Penn felt seduced. He would have expected to feel some strangeness in the prospect of suckling his girlfriend's mother, but it was simply not present.
Pamela led him to her room, which he had seen from Madeleine's mirror, but never before entered. He was surprised at the scents in the room, they were fresh, and inviting. After quietly closing the door, Pamela lay down on her bed, her full head of hair behind her, and beckoned Penn over. As he lay down beside her, she revealed a breast, and put a hand behind Penn's neck to guide him to her.
She was so beautiful, and she knew so. Her eyes were crinkled, her face was a little looser than her daughter's, but she was wise, and kind, and Penn was comfortable with her.
After a diet of bread and root vegetables, Penn was famished. He latched on, and suckled. He was surprised at how strongly he needed to suck, but was soon rewarded with copious quantities of warm, life-giving milk. It was good. The feeling soon became surprisingly natural, and he began to feel quite relaxed.
Pamela stroked his hair, and kissed him.
A kind of waking dream entered Penn's head. He had not moved, he knew that, but he felt different, it no longer felt like Mrs Beale's house.
He was in another house, a young woman's house.
Her name was Helen, but Penn could not recall having met her.
She was a presence in her own room, and, although she was not talking, a progression of images flowed through his mind. It was like a story, told in impressions.
Penn learned that The Andersens were staying with her, and were good company for a young lady such as herself, living on her own. She was in love with them all. She saw Poe as a confidante, Madeleine as a daughter, and Pamela with desire. She was surprised at the strength of her attraction to Pamela, but felt unable to voice it.
That was not necessary. Pamela herself made the first move, visiting her in her bed one night. Her remembered sexual awakening washed over Penn, and his feelings of suckling comfort began to become sexual.
How she loved Pamela's astonishing beauty, her magical tongue, her sucking mouth. How many hours Pamela had spent with her, giving her pleasure. Most of all, she loved the strange warmth that Pamela held between her legs, and how nicely it pressed itself into her. Penn felt privileged to share this pleasure, and shared Helen's desire for the the long, pleasant hours with Pamela to continue forever.
Penn was in a sort of dreamy half-consciousness as his erection began to poke against Pamela, and his desire crested as he felt Pamela share an orgasm with this strange young woman. He awoke then, and squeezed his eyes tight, and felt an uncontrollable burst of pleasure as his cock pulsed several times.
He had come against Pamela's thigh.
Pamela held him closer, and smiled, and she continued to stroke his hair. He went back to suckle on her other breast, until his stomach felt full for the first time in weeks.
The six of them had settled into a routine. A little time was taken in the mornings to keep the house clean, and to do all of the other tasks associated with maintaining a household. Poe, Mrs Beale and Pamela would take themselves to the front room every morning until lunch time, and always locked the door. When they emerged, Mrs Beale took Dee to her room, Poe took Madeleine, and Pamela took Penn.
This existence could have been stultifyingly boring, but the daily breastfeed did far more than keep hunger at bay. Penn's life was suffused with a sense of mystery, of unreality. Along with the milk came half-remembered dreams, strange personal connections.
Today, Penn was soaking up impressions from Jane, a girl he could not remember while awake, but did dreamily remember as he fed. Penn enjoyed her company. It was almost as if she were in the room with them, almost as if he were in her mind. He soaked up impressions, impressions which had been hidden from those around her. He felt Jane's insecurity, her questioning of new emotions arising within herself, the changes in her maturing body, and her sweet anticipation for her nightly experiments. She appeared to have great personal reserve from the outside, but the Jane underneath was in a constant state of hunger. She was filled with desire for someone special.
Penn wished that he could see her outside this strange dream world, that he could be with her in the flesh, he wished that the hunger she felt was for him.
If the feelings had seemed like echoes, Penn would have been sad for her, but it was as if her spirit were present, her innermost dreams and secrets on her face, readable like an open book. The communication was of utmost eloquence, but she could not speak. He could only read her feelings, and it was as if there was something at the tip of her tongue that she wanted to tell him, as if she were about to speak, but could not. There was comfort, though, in there being no capacity for misunderstanding, or judgement, or competition for attention.
This intimacy with Jane was too delicious to leave by choice. He would usually fall asleep as he fed, with Pamela stroking his hair, and making little cooing sounds, as if he were a baby
Today, the connection was broken when Pamela fell asleep first.
Detaching, Penn lay beside her on the bed. He felt a sense of wonder for everything that his association with five very special women had given him. Penn gazed with love and adoration at Pamela's fine beauty, and stroked her milk-white breast, the nipple still erect, and moist.
Pamela, now only pretending sleep, gently lifted back her robe to reveal what lay beneath. Penn had never seen Pamela naked, and could not resist regarding her in all of her beauty. At first he thought that the light was bad, as his impression was that her tummy and mons were still in shadow, so he quietly shifted from the bed and opened the curtains to let in the grey afternoon light.
As he stared, he still could not see. The strange wall at the rear of the cave came into his mind. Below Pamela's breasts, he could see nothing: no colour, no texture, no impression of anything, just an absence between the folds of her robe.
Penn put his hand on a breast, and gently crept it down, cupping underneath, and then turned his hand to slide it lower.
Pamela smiled as he felt an impression of moisture and warmth. Penn saw nothing unusual, but he soon realised that his hand was no longer visible. Feelings of comfort stole over him from the unseeable hand, as if in anticipation of being stroked, and he let his hand linger, and let it lower. His feelings of curiosity were replaced by desire, and an erection strengthened in him. Penn could not resist wanting more of that lovely feeling, so he gently moved to cover Pamela, so that his chest was against hers. As he moved against her centre, the feeling became intense, and he was past worrying about any sense of embarrassment.
He had seen Mrs Beale in this position, and seen her ecstasy, and now he would know what she had felt.
It was delicious just to lie with Pamela and let the pleasure wash over him. It was like an afternoon in bed with Madeleine making love, no need to hurry. Pamela's eyes drifted open, and she smiled, and held him, and talked quietly, and dreamily, chiding him,
“Oh, Penn, you naughty boy. You like your mother-to-be as you like her daughter, do you not? That's very nice, Penn, it's nice that you like to hold me. I have something special inside me. Hold me, Penn, hold me, and I'll make you feel nice.”
Pamela reached up, and began to undo the buttons of his shirt. Each turned, and held the other, and drank in the other's essence with their eyes. Pamela was beautiful, and Penn could see Madeleine in her eyes, but older, and more confidant, and hungrier.
The feeling of humid warmth on Penn's chest moved down, and stole across his tummy, and he felt his pants opening, felt warmth and humidity on the tip of his cock-head. With delicious slowness, he was enveloped. It was not really physical. There was no sense of touch, but it was if a hard, radiant, heat was held near to him. It did not burn him, but excited his nerves, filled him with liquid lust. Pamela promised untold delights if he could push into her, if he could penetrate her maddening teasing.
“You are safe, Penn. You are safe for now. She cannot touch you while we are protected. Feel her, Penn, feel her desire. She's safe inside me, Penn, and I won't let her out. She radiates health, and life, and healing. She loves to feel you, Penn, but you must never, ever, let her touch you. She is so sweet, Penn, and so dangerous, you would be consumed. ...”
Penn pushed, and strained, but he could not touch, or see, or even perceive whatever it was that Pamela was holding within herself. He pushed his hips and hardness into that maddening emptiness, and felt its heat, its seduction, its hunger. He wriggled around, he thrust himself into its mystery, and soon gushed into Pamela's centre. It was like spending into a hot wind, the maddening lust was still there, but there was no satisfaction, he could not look, he could not touch.
“Madeleine needs you now, Penn, remember that. She will not need you forever. Don't be afraid, Penn. If you give yourself to Lilith, you will feel the love of a god, you will know eternity, you will transcend your physical self.
“I am here now, Penn, always ready for you. I am open to you, my body is yours, I love you, I want you. Help Madeleine, love Madeleine, but come to me whenever you want. One day I might let you feel what you are denied, I might show you how the world ends.”
Penn lay beside Pamela, and stroked her hidden centre, and felt her heat, where her womb should be, where he should feel wiry hair, her lips, a moist opening, but it was not available to him. It was a delicious feeling, but empty. His desire for her was like a blast of the blackest jealousy: he wanted her, he wanted to know her mystery, but it was denied him.
Almost with a sense of resignation, he covered her and plunged into her again, and their lovemaking was violent, with her arms around him as he thrust into her with a rhythm faster than any he had known with Madeleine, and her legs matched him, pulling his thrusts into her centre.
Even as he worked with a kind of mad passion he had never before felt, and they both panted with exertion, he could not touch, he could not reach his goal. Even as Pamela sighed her completion, even as his semen erupted, even as it left him and spurted into her, her could not feel her flesh, he could not know what she was.
Pamela's body was open to him, and he knew that she would never refuse him, but there was a spiritual completion being denied to him, a physical touch that was missing, a final completion that he hungered for with all of his being, all of his soul.
Penn hoped that what he longed for was not his own death.
Dee soon came to believe that Mrs Beale was holding something back. Her memories of her time with Mrs Beale, when her leg was broken, were hazy at best, and Dee was pretty sure that her memories were being suppressed by magical means.
Dee enjoyed suckling Mrs Beale. The strange visions into the lives of others were fascinating, and involving, and the gentle pleasures of those visions were beguiling, and getting stronger. Dee wished that the dreams would stay in her mind, but they seemed to slip away from her when she was awake. Aside from these times of peacefulness, Dee did feel a little lonely, as she knew that she was the odd one out in this household.
Penn and Madeleine enjoyed her company, of course, and they all spent a lot of the expansive time in the house playing games with her and generally horsing around, but she was never sure if Madeleine regarded her as a close friend. Dee felt that she had lost some of the intimacy with Penn which she had cherished since they were both infants.
The three older women, Pamela, Poe and Mrs Beale, seemed to be at the centre of events, either willing assistants of the demon, or hardened warriors fighting back. Dee did not really know, and, frustratingly, could not seem to care.
She had guessed Penn's involvement with both Madeleine and Tsanja, and, somehow, could see that they were both blooming. Although it was too early for their tummies to start to show, perhaps it was the looseness of the clothes in which they dressed which really gave them away. Dee suspected that Madeleine was blinded by her love for Penn, or by some other means, so that she remained unaware of Penn's intimacy with Tsanja, his infidelity.
Dee loved her brother, but she didn't know why he had been so stupid. Oh, this could be so, so awful. If just this one little truth were to come out, Dee would not like to be in Penn's shoes. If Madeleine reacted as Dee expected, Penn would never be forgiven.
Maybe all boys were so fickle.
Dee was in the habit of leaving the house every day for a walk, and was often gone for several hours. The village was very quiet now, and no smoke emerged from any chimney.
She did not worry too much about being taken. Dee had never perceived any sense of threat, from anywhere, in all the time she had lived in Gynt. In any case, she had internalised this nagging contentment, a lack of worry, which had afflicted everyone in the village. Dee supposed that this had also scuppered any deliberate action against the demon and her children, whoever they were.
The protections offered by the choker charm Mrs Beale had given her as a child seemed absolute. She had never seen any sign of the demon. However, somehow, that protection had some chink in it, some loophole, which nobody could yet tell.
As she walked towards the edge of the village, trying so hard to stare into the unseeable barrier which surrounded it, she had a revelation.
The protection offered by the choker charms prevented one from seeing the Demon, or letting the demon touch you, or seeing any of her enchantments. What if the choker were preventing us all from considering the actions of the demon? What if it was the choker itself that was hiding the memory of all the disappeared people? Surely Madeleine or Tsanja would have considered this single, simple thought!
Dee held onto this idea in the certain knowledge that it would be taken from her, in a wash of calm, leaving her none the wiser.
Her resolve held, and the thought remained.
Dee's fingers reached up to untie the choker.
Perhaps it would be the death of her, perhaps others had thrown away their defences the same way, but she felt that the idea had come from her own mind. She still did not perceive any danger surrounding her.
Perhaps she could just remove it for a short time, and quickly bring it back if anything near her moved.
Dee untied the choker, but held it closed around her neck, as if it were a lifebuoy, keeping her afloat. She let the ends separate and warily pulled it away from her neck.
Dee knew then that she had been right.
The road was blocked by a wall of moist, pinkish, flesh, extending twenty feet high, forming a barrier around the village as far as the eye could see.
An appalling feeling of emptiness swept through her, and she dropped to her knees, gasping in pain.
All of the suppressed memories of her missing friends returned, and she could see the village as it now was, abandoned, quiet, the inhabitants gone, having been consumed, or worse. Dee felt the loss of her mother like a punch in her heart, all her school mates, her aunty Helen in Toridé, all gone now.
Dee began to single out memories of the disappeared.
Her mother she had not seen since the day before Madeleine and her family arrived in the village. Madeleine had started giving away the choker charms the very day after she had disappeared, so that Penn had never had any time to consider her loss.
Herself, Tsanja, and Mrs Beale already owned chokers before Madeleine had arrived. Perhaps it was only Madeleine's chokers which had left people so vulnerable?
Most of the disappeared she knew were children from the school. One in particular Dee remembered, with a great sense of loss.
Jane.
Before Madeleine had come to school, Penn and Jane had been inseparable. The whole village knew that they had been meant for each other. Jane must have been one of the first to disappear, as Penn had started to court Madeleine just as school started. The memory of Jane must have been take from him along with Madeleine's gift of the first choker charm.
All the memories of her week with Mrs Beale returned, and she began to wonder about that surprising force which had held her leg immobile for a whole week, and the feelings it had engendered in her young body. Quite frankly, that week in bed with Mrs Beale had been her sexual awakening, a time of bliss, even ecstasy, broken leg or no.
She still wanted to feel that way again. When the details of that time had been a closed book to her, her dreams had still been filled with that strange, unearthly, pleasure. No boy had tempted her with anything that even came close to it. Perhaps her failure to form any close relationships was not because of any defect in herself, but because of this early experience. Dee felt ambivalent about missing out on so much when she was growing up. Would it have been better if she had never experienced those feelings with Mrs Beale at such a young age?
Dee turned her attention to the wall of flesh. It was no wonder that nobody had passed in or out of the village for some time, it looked impenetrable. The wall radiated warmth, and she could faintly perceive liquid currents moving behind it.
As she moved closer, it became more than warmth, it was radiant desire, pure, and physical, and it was delicious. It penetrated her limbs, her body, her cunt. Her terror at finally beholding the demon became a kind of respectful awe, like looking up at the Grand Abbey in Solveig, or, the delicious exhilaration she had felt when she looked down at the ground from the heights of a huge tree. Dee knew that if she revealed herself to it, in her nakedness, and pressed herself into that red, living, flesh, she would feel that pleasure she had known with Mrs Beale, but undiluted, magnified a thousand-fold, all-consuming, final. The temptation to do so was almost strong enough to overwhelm all of her caution, all of her fears.
In a way, she felt like she had returned home. The warmth of the wall was the same warmth she had known as Mrs Beale had healed her. She had been healed by a demon! Somehow, Mrs Beale had harnessed the demon, and contained it within herself for years.
Dee moved still closer, almost as a dare to herself. She raised her hand against the wall, as close as she dared, and felt its heat. A fissure appeared in the membrane of the wall then, as if split by her fingers, and Dee stepped back as liquid flesh began to leak out of the crack. No, it was not just leaking. The ooze was pushing itself through the crack, questing, groping for purchase on anything, like a blind worm, like animated entrails.
Dee pulled the choker around her neck again, and, as the two ends of the leather touched, that feeling of calm washed over her again, and she regained her composure. The wall disappeared like mist, unseeable, and she almost found herself turning away, and had to consciously stop herself beginning the walk back to the village.
The strange radiation receded somewhat. She moved still closer to the wall, until all of her vision was obscured by shadow, and again raised her hand, to find out what she could feel while still protected from the Demon. Her hand sank into the shadows, and the feeling of pleasurable warmth increased, caressing her.
Shadows seemed to gather along her arm, and Dee reluctantly began to pull back from the wall. She gave herself a good amount of distance from the wall, and released the choker again.
Dee was surprised by a white hot bolt of pleasure. She was covered in the stuff! As she screamed in sudden, forced, orgasm, she dropped to her knees. Her thighs quivered, and her head was bowed while the thundering pleasure played itself out within her body. For the first time she felt it, she really felt the demon's flesh, moist, and questing. The diffuse pleasure she had felt while protected by Mrs Beale's choker charm was nothing compared to the raw, moist, visceral pleasure of being held by that demon flesh, sucking and squirming, against her skin.
It took a few seconds to register that she had dropped the choker.
Dee could not see, she scrabbled around on the ground, searching for her charm. It had disappeared.
The red flesh was still oozing from the fissure, and began to flow towards her, to join that which was caressing her arm. It twined around her, pushed its way into her armpit, into her clothes, under her breasts. Dee, only now recovering from her thunderous orgasm, stumbled backwards, and gave an almighty pull against the ropes of red which held her.
She was surprised as she was released.
A substantial pile of the stuff was pooling on the ground, and the fissure in the wall closed up as the demonic lump pulled itself into a single piece. Dee saw a hand forming in the abominable goo, a face, internal organs, separate, but beginning to move to their prober places.
A whole creature began to emerge, looking newly born. It was human, and it was female. Slick redness covered it in place, but the moisture was soaking into its skin. Formless flesh began to acquire features, and membranous covering became cloth.
Finally, Dee recognised her.
“Mother!”
An image of her mother was standing in front of her. The creature turned, and regarded her calmly, without emotion. Awareness seemed to return, and it smiled in the recognition of familiarity.
“Oh, Dee, how I have missed you.”
It was her mothers voice and her mother's smile. She moved quickly and Dee was soon enfolded in her arms, her hair stroked.
“Oh, Dee, you are so special to me. You are so very special. Come on, give us a hug, it's been so long ...”
Over the last few months, Dee had been living with a constant undercurrent of horror beneath her shackled mind. For the first time in years, her mind was free. Her mother smelled right, she felt right. It was so nice to hold someone so familiar to her, someone who had always supported her, had always looked after her. Dee's mother had been sorely missed.
“Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh … Dee, my darling daughter. There is so much that you need to know, Dee. Suckle on me Dee, let me feed you, let me teach you.”
Dee let herself be led to the tree, where her mother sat against the trunk. Her mother's flesh was warm, but still radiated the demon's strange desire into her flesh. She had waited for years for this feeling to return, and, without the protection of the choker charm, she was feeling Lilith's strange pleasure in its purest, undiluted form.
Dee didn't want to resist, she didn't care where it led.
Before she allowed her mother to guide her to suckle, she desperately wanted to make some kind of sense of the last few months, and Magda was happy to talk to her daughter.
“Do you remember our last night together, Dee?”
Dee's memories were still returning.
Aunty Helen had turned up at their house, unannounced, and Helen and her mother had still managed to create a feast. The wine had flowed, and the four of them had had a wonderful time. Penn and Dee felt as if the holidays were starting again.
“Helen told me me your fates, Dee, you and Penn, and I knew that I had to go with her. It was sad to leave you kids, but I knew that you would be quite capable of looking after yourselves. Your father is with me, too.”
It was the day before Dee and Penn had gone back to school.
Dee thought she understood.
“Aunty Helen took you, didn't she? Aunty Helen was the Lilith Spawn, come to Gynt, to imprison us, to take us all.”
Dee had forgotten her mother immediately she was taken, and remembered having trouble understanding what Penn had been worried about that morning. Penn's memory faded soon after Madeleine gave him the charm. Helen must have taken Dee's parents the night she arrived in Gynt.
Magda gave Dee a smile, horrible in its passion,
“Oh, yes, Dee, oh, yes. Helen was so beautiful, so charming. It was no trouble for her, and it still makes me shiver to think back upon it. When your time comes, Dee, just give yourself up to Lilith, just let her take you. She gives immortality, and eternal pleasure. To receive her gifts, all you need to do is offer your eternal obedience, to give up your body, and give her your eternal soul. It is not a matter of choice.”
Dee hesitated. She wasn't sure if that deal sounded all that attractive, actually.
“Where's Jane, Mum?”
“Who?”
“Jane, Penn's girlfriend!”
“Oh, that Jane! Yes, Penn can certainly pick the beauties.
“Jane is a lovely girl, yes, that's true. But I am sorry, Dee, there is no other way to say this. To put it bluntly, Dee, Jane is as common as muck. She's the daughter of a long line of farmers and shopkeepers. She's not a patch on Tsanja or Madeleine, that's for sure.
“I took care of her straight away.”
Dee was surprised. When Penn and Jane were together, her mother had never shown anything but kindness to her daughter-in-law to be. How could she say something so petty, so cutting? Was this her mother speaking, or Lilith?
Magda smiled at Dee, bored,
“Now, Dee, enough talking.”
Dee was embraced, and held tight. Magda guided her down to a breast, and pushed a nipple into Dee's mouth.
“It has been far too long since I fed you, Dee. You were a beautiful baby, and you have grown into a beautiful woman. Don't worry about Jane, she is being looked after. Penn will be joining her soon. You, on the other hand, have your whole life ahead of you. Tsanja, Madeleine, Dee, you're the ones I have to watch. Wouldn't it be nice to be a mum, Dee, like Tsanja, and like Madeleine? Those little stones are so beguiling, but they are so very useful. Don't you feel like you are missing out, haven't you wondered about the joys of motherhood? Tsanja needs a new sister, Dee. Drink, Dee, drink, and you shall see what became of our friend Jane ...”
It never happened.
Was Dee still safe?
He went with Madeleine to her room, and they asked assistance from the mirror.
“Dee Fillis”
Dee's face appeared. She was sitting naked against a tree, next to a road. Her legs were splayed, and there was blood on her thighs, and those strange hickeys on her chest. Her head was back against the trunk, and her eyes closed. Her choker charm was gone.
She was still, but breathing.
Penn gave a sigh of relief.
Dee was still in this world.
The full moon, a huge, harvest moon, had risen behind, and showed the old oak tree in silhouette.
It was the main road out of the village, near the cave entrance.
Madeleine and Penn wasted little time. Penn found a thick woollen coat and some water for Dee, they told Poe where they were going, and then tore out of the house.
Penn had not been outside for some weeks. The village was quiet, and no lights burned against the dark.
Their flight through the village should have taken only twenty minutes, but Penn had to keep stopping, as obstacles began to appear in his path. Madeleine took him by the hand, and was continuously tugging him, pulling him forward.
The obstructions were mysterious. They did not have any physical effect, but his body was reluctant to walk through them. When he tried to touch them directly, they infused his body with a strange warmth, and he began to feel a strange lassitude, a lessening of his will to move on, a desire to simply stay put, and see where the feelings led.
Madeleine was mystified, as there was no such influence on her.
“Come on, Penn, what's gotten into you?”
“Can't you feel them, Madeleine?”
“No. Come on! You catch up.”
Madeleine ran ahead, wanting to find Dee. Whatever Penn was doing, it could wait. As she raced in front, Penn was forgotten.
Penn found himself surrounded. It was as if several bodies were crowded around him, staying close, and never touching. Their heat warmed his body, and he found himself rising.
The warmth concentrated itself in his crotch. It was the same warmth that Pamela held at her centre.
The pleasure was maddening, frustrating, threatening.
Then, the voices started.
They were worse.
“Penn, Penn, Penn.
“You know that you cannot escape. We will take you eventually, Penn, we love you, we want you. Don't delay. We have so much pleasure stored up for you, and there is so much pain for you up here. There is so much pain coming to Gynt, and nobody can avert it. Penn, you will be safer with us. We are kind. You can have a life without pain.”
“Give yourself up now, Penn. It will be so sweet, and you can wait with us for your lovers. We will take care of you, you will live in eternity with us. We have your parents with us, your school friends, your family, they are all with us, they will love you again. There is no need to hurry, just follow us, then you can lie down.”
“Then you can let us take you, Penn.”
They did not sound human. No human could sound so sweet, so enticing. The voices were young, as young as Madeleine, as Dee, yet also very old, an age that spoke of experience, and wisdom, and a knowledge of seduction, and pleasure.
Penn was led towards the cave just off the road.
He was not quite pushed, as he was never touched, but his body moved, as if controlled, to avoid the shapes which surrounded him, and he was cushioned as he climbed down through the rocky entrance. The moonlight was shining from above, and that little stone platform was again illuminated.
Penn had been here with Tsanja, and loved her here, but the cave now felt empty. He felt a sense of déjà vu. He had been in the cave to find the demon. It had been important, but he could not remember why.
He did remember one way he could ask for help.
“Maddy, Maddy, Maddy, I'm in the cave, help me, Maddy, Help me!”, he whispered.
There was no response.
The air in the cave was electric, and Penn could feel his desire rising as he was moved towards the back wall. He put up his hand against its blankness, but was simply pushed through. A flash of heat covered him, and he reappeared in another chamber much like the one he had just left.
There were dozens of little piles of clothes on the dry floor, neatly folded, and stacked into rows.
As he was pushed into the middle of the cave, he felt only a pillowy softness under his feet
Penn surrendered then. He had called out to Madeleine, but he knew that she could no longer help him. She would never penetrate the barrier of invisibility the demon used to protect itself. So many had been led here to their doom, and there was no sign of any struggle. He could not make himself feel anger, or sadness, or even any concern.
It really would be sweet, he knew, and he would finally be allowed to feel what Pamela was holding inside herself, to understand her mystery, and of what she had warned him. He would know its pleasure, and how good it could make him feel.
He lay himself down as the shadows around him grew in strength, let them unbuckle his pants, and pushed up into the moist warmth. It was like being within Pamela, yet the shadows surrounded him completely, there was no reticence as they flowed all around him and caressed him. He pulled off his remaining clothes so that he could feel it just a little bit closer to his skin.
The demon spoke in a girl's voice now, but like an adult, with authority. She was like royalty. No, more than that, she was a deity.
“Penn, you are the father of two beautiful daughters. They will know you, Penn, I will let them taste you every day. You are not needed here any more, Penn, it is the women that have the magic, it is the women who must save the world. Now, Penn, remove your protection, remove Madeleine's choker. Give yourself to me and you will remember my love, and I will love you, it will be so sweet, so sweet, forever, and ever.”
Penn felt the desire for this damning pleasure rise within him. The voice was right. He was not needed here, the village was all but gone. His daughters would suckle his soul, and he would gladly fill them.
He reached up with two hands to untie the choker, but the shadows shifted above him. His hands were held tight, and he struggled, trying to open his charm.
He heard Madeleine then.
“Evil bitch!”
He moaned in frustration and need as the oppressive pleasure was removed from him. Through the clearing shadows, he saw his saviours. It was Dee, and Madeleine.
Eternity would have to wait a little longer.
Dee began to see into the past, into Jane's past. Dee felt herself becoming Jane, as if she could see, hear, feel, and even think, everything that had been Jane, but still looking on, a spectator.
Jane had been in Gynt for two years now, and had made many friends, and hoped that their affections would be life-long. She was struggling with her school work, but school work didn't really matter to her.
One thing that did matter was her boyfriend. Since they had first met at school, she had known that he was the one, a soul-mate to share her life with, a constant companion. Penn knew it, and so did Dee. She had teased them mercilessly when they were making their first, fumbling, attempts at affection, but soon Penn and Jane were together, and the three of them were firm friends.
Jane didn't know it yet, but she was beautiful. Penn told her this, every day of her life, but she didn't yet believe him. Jane just knew that she would have him, that he was brilliant, and that she wanted him to ask her to marry him as soon as possible. She knew he could be convinced to give himself to her.
Her mother had told her to shop around a little, to get to know a few boys, to find out what she wanted.
Jane knew better, she had Penn, and he was perfect.
It was the first day of school in Jane's final year, and the school day had just ended. She had made plans to go around to Penn's house in the afternoon to borrow some of his books, and she was hoping to get some time alone with him, but she wanted to go home first to change and freshen herself first.
Arriving home at her usual time, she shouted her customary greeting.
The house was silent.
The house was clean, and a lot of things had been taken.
Dee realised that this was to be Jane's last day on this earth.
The family bible, which usually took pride of place on the mantelpiece, was gone. It was priceless. Inscribed inside the front pages, it contained Jane's family tree back to the time of the King, and before.
Jane's parents' bedroom door was open. Jane felt guilty, but she ventured a peek inside. She had never seen inside this room, it was strictly off limits.
It looked absurdly normal, with a bed made, flowers in a vase, and no sign of either her mother, or her storied father.
Jane began to feel some concern. She made her way to her own room.
Penn's mother, Magda, was sitting on her bed. She had been waiting, silent, out of view from the door, since Jane arrived home.
“Your parents aren't here, Jane. I'll look after you now.”
She patted the bed beside her, indicating that Jane should sit.
Jane knew that something was amiss. Her mother would have said something, unless some disaster had required both her parents to leave the house. What could it possibly be? Why was Penn's mum here?
However, sit she did.
“Where is my mother?”
Magda didn't answer. She turned to Jane, and regarded her intensely.
Her eyes were captivating. They were a brilliant blue, and the pupils were black as pitch. No light was reflected from them, and Jane felt herself drawn into them.
“You love my Penn, don't you, Jane my dear?”
Jane replied, feeling a little rebellious,
“Of course, Magda, and I intend to marry him.”
Magda nodded, it was what she expected.
“Jane, look into my eyes. No harm will come to you, but you must let me help you. It is the only way to save the love you share with him.”
Magda's voice was enchanting, and Jane felt her alarm begin to dissipate. She did not resist as Magda positioned her on the bed, and never lost eye contact. As Magda unbuttoned Jane's blouse, leaving her budding breasts exposed, Jane blushed, but didn't look away. Magda unbuttoned her own blouse then.
Jane could not help but look at Magda's breasts.
They were beautiful, pink nipples and bounteous curves.
Oh, dear.
Jane awoke from her reverie as if cold water had been splashed on her face.
“Gods!”
What on earth was that? Magda was not human!
She was an abomination.
Two glistening suckers opened from beneath her breasts, and mouthed in the air, as if tasting it, questing for something.
Magda put a finger under Jane's chin, and again lifted her gaze. Jane was recaptured, and held still, panting in panic, and a strange excitement.
“Relax, Jane. Don't worry about what you see. Don't turn away. It will be nicer if you don't struggle.”
Slowly, slowly, Jane was encircled by Magda's arms, and gently pulled against the suckers. Jane felt them, warm and wet against her ribs, and then, a horrible absence as the mouths opened wide.
“Let them suck you, Jane. It will be easier for me, and nicer for you.”
Jane didn't have any choice. She was held fast, gazing into the eyes of Penn's mother, but now seeming like a stranger's, as she felt the drawing begin.
“I do not want your flesh, Jane, at least not yet. I only want your soul, your spirit, your essence. Let me have it, Jane. It isn't painful, you know. Let me draw it from you, I can make it the sweetest thing you have ever felt.”
Jane felt a short, sucking sensation as the mouths fastened onto her chest, and an answering burst of pleasure as her pussy began to moisten. Her legs spread themselves, involuntarily, as desire flared within herself. She had never felt physical desire so strongly. Was this rape? How could it be when she wanted it so much? Her soul was about to be taken from her …
The drawing sensation was felt again, and a trickle of moisture appeared down below as she felt the strange magic begin. The mouths pulsed regularly, and Jane pushed herself forward, offering herself up, her body wanting to be taken.
“Good girl, Jane, you are a good, loving girl. You will be so delicious.”
“First, Jane, I will need to take your precious virginity. It is dangerous to you now.”
Jane felt something hard then in the sucking mouths, and was held tight as two fangs slid into her flesh. The sting of their penetration intensified as she felt herself injected with venom, and she felt the warm, burning liquid enter her bloodstream. Jane was held tight for a few minutes more, and felt more venom being injected, pulsing into her flesh. It needed time to do its work.
The initial feeling was a dizziness, and Jane felt her consciousness slip away for a moment.
As awareness returned, Jane realised that she was limp, that she had no control over her muscles.
The venom had spread to her centre, where it seemed to clot into a growing feeling of dull pleasure. As her arousal climbed, she became more liquid, and irritated. It was terrifying, but almost a relief, when her skirt was pushed up, her underwear removed, and she was exposed to the cool air.
Her legs were separated further, her knees pushed to the sides, and they stayed where they were put.
Magda moved gracefully from the bed and efficiently undressed.
Her abdomen was liquid, alive with questing tendrils, red and pink liquid flesh. Between her legs was a crawling awfulness, a hole, big enough to swallow a hand. As Jane watched, the flesh around the hole churned and melded, and a spear of flesh emerged, a liquid, rippling phallus.
“Jane, I know this looks strange. Don't be concerned, Jane, it is not the end of you. Your life will change, Jane, but you will learn to love it all. You will have Penn, too, in the end. I need him up here for a little while, but you'll have him to hold soon enough, and you will enjoy the waiting, I promise. You will be inside me, Jane, your soul and your body, suspended in my bliss...”
Jane was covered then, and Magda held her face gently with two hands and remained motionless. Jane was surprised at the beauty of the face regarding her. Her physical arousal was uncomfortable, if only because it was unassuaged, but she soon began to feel the true seduction. Magda was beautiful, and kind, and Jane loved her as a friend, but now Jane found herself falling in love with her, and trusting her, and wanting, wanting so much, to be with her, to become a part of her, to let her do with her what she did will.
Jane did not break eye contact as Penn's mother bore down within her. She felt her hymen part, but there was no pain, and soon she felt filled completely. Her mouth opened in a silent 'O' of pleasure, and she wished that her muscles could strain against the orgasms which enveloped her.
The phallus softened, allowing that hole between Magda's legs to fasten itself, a hole with lips that rippled as they stuck tight and pressed against her. First it swallowed her virgin's blood, then the suckers started on her chest, and the three mouths began to draw her into themselves, from her breasts, from her pussy.
It takes a very long time for one's soul to be eaten, even when it is given freely, and Jane gave herself completely to this lovely creature. Long, sweet hours passed as her soul was drawn out, and devoured, piece by precious piece, coming out in liquid, sweet bursts of ecstasy.
First her hearing faded, leaving her in silence. Then her vision dimmed. Then she was just a loyal soul in her body, coming, coming, coming so sweetly as she was devoured by her lover, each orgasm spending more of herself into those three sucking maws at her breasts, and her pussy, so sweet, so loving, so horrible.
Jane knew that she was in heaven as she joined her flesh to the demon. She watched through Jane's eyes as the demon allowed its form to return, all pink, formless, flesh. Her emptied body was filled again, and cocooned, and the demon allowed Jane's flesh to stand up and carry them both away.
Poor Jane!
Dee felt quite groggy, as if she had been drugged herself. It took her some time to get her bearings.
“Oh, no.”
Dee looked down at herself. She was naked. Her legs were spread, and blood smeared her inner thighs.
Her mother had raped her, too.
Dee felt sore, and tired. The memory of the dire happenings in Gynt still filled her with dread, and, searching, she found her clothes were scattered around the tree, bloody and torn. There was no sign of her choker charm.
She didn't relish the thought of the walk back home, and leant back against the tree, tears leaking out of her eyes. She would start sobbing soon, she knew it.
“Dee! Dee! Are you all right?”
It was Madeleine!
Madeleine squatted down next to her, and wrapped a coat around her. Dee embraced her in relief, glad to feel some human contact again.
“I'm all right, Madeleine, but I have so much to tell you. Where's Penn?”
Madeleine put her hands over her eyes, and shook her head.
“Dee, he's almost gone. He's being taken. I can hardly remember him now. He told me he was in the cave, but then I forgot. Oh, dear, that sounds terrible. I hope it's not too late now.”
Dee grabbed Madeleine's hand, pulled herself upright, and they both walked to the cave, Dee hobbling as fast as she could go. It was only a short distance away.
Upon climbing down, Madeleine felt the same sense of déjà vu as had Penn. She knew this place had been important, but what had happened here?
Dee looked on in horror, and with new eyes, at the back wall. It crawled with demon flesh, in constant motion, and formed an oozing curtain against the space behind.
She now had no concern for her own safety. If the demon had wanted her, she would already have been taken.
“Madeleine, the choker charms are blocking your thoughts. I'll have to get Penn by myself.”
Madeleine was surprised to see Dee walking to the back wall, and pushing with some distaste through it, disappearing from sight. She struggled to remember why Dee had brought her here.
Penn! Her own enchantments had blocked her view!
Madeleine threw caution to the wind, and quickly removed her own choker. Her mind and memories were returned to her, but she had no time, she had to help Penn. She saw the demon for the first time, and realised that she would have to push her way through it. Dee had done it, why couldn't she?
As Madeleine forced herself against the crawling flesh, she felt an intense pleasure, an intense warmth. Along with the feelings of desolation which accompanied her returning memories, the effect was awful, it was horrifying. Madeleine pushed on, and was allowed to pass.
Penn was in the middle of the floor, with Jane Cameron crouched above him, waiting for him to remove his choker charm. He was already embedded in her, but her flesh roiled about him, unable to touch, unable to find purchase on his protected flesh.
Dee was holding Penn's hands, struggling with him, as he tried to open his charm.
How much of Jane was left? Oh, the demon Jane did love him, that much was clear, but the hunger on her face was terrible to behold.
“Evil bitch!”
Madeleine slapped Jane across the face, and Jane slowly turned towards her, and smiled. The stinging slap had left no mark. Madeleine pushed and punched at her, and Jane made no effort to defend herself.
Jane made an exaggerated gesture over Penn, as if to give him back,
“Take him now, Madeleine, take him for now. Enjoy him while he lasts, but he is mine, I am the one that gets to keep him!”
Jane giggled in amusement, and pushed herself back, and Madeleine was revolted as Jane churned back into Demon flesh, and merged with the wall.
Dee was still holding Jason's hands, preventing him from removing the choker, and it took some time before he could calm himself.
Madeleine picked up Penn's clothes for him. He looked around, unable to see any exit, but Madeleine and Dee took hold of him.
He allowed himself to be dragged out the way he had been led in, through the wall.
Back in the cave, they felt safe again, although that strange, cloying pleasure remained.
Penn could see that Dee and Madeleine were putting all of the pieces together, and he found it very hard to follow their words. As soon as he had a glimmer of understanding, his memories would slide away, and he was left behind.
It was Mrs Beale that suggested that Penn could remove his choker charm.
“This house is protected, bairns. Unless I invite her, the demon cannot enter here. However, I cannot remove my charm, nor can Pamela, nor Poe.
“We have worn them for years. We do not wear the charms to keep the demon out.
“We keep the demon within ourselves, and have controlled her with the aid of our choker charms. They block the demon from controlling our thoughts. If one of us did remove it, it would not be long before we found ourselves under its control, or even devoured completely.”
“For years my charm has prevented the demon from having any influence in Gynt, save for her healing radiation which has helped so many people. I regret now that it must keep so much from my memory, that it keeps me in the dark about so many things. I do not know what changed in Toridé to make it so virulent, so aggressive, why it has taken so many people, why it has come to Gynt.
“Penn, you should be safe from the demon in this house at least. Pamela and Poe were only able to enter here because of my invitation. Otherwise, it cannot, and I do not want to lose you, Penn. I must keep the demon so close for my healing, yet I must also keep it at bay.”
Dee looked across at Madeleine, wondering how much she knew, or guessed, about Jane. Penn and Madeleine had some pain in front of them. She tried to smooth the way.
“Penn, I know you want to understand what has been happening, and we should try to remove your choker charm. It will be very painful for you, Penn.
“Jane has been taken by the demon.”
Madeleine interjected before Penn had a chance to speak.
“That bitch!” Madeleine exclaimed, “She would have taken Penn if we didn't stop her. Why should Penn care?”
Penn looked confused.
“Who's Jane?” he asked.
Dee could see that it would be very difficult, and sighed. She knew it would be hardest on Penn, and he really deserved to hear the truth. She resigned herself to removing the charm for him, and she'd just have to pick up the pieces.
“Madeleine, just lay off, please. Just trust me, this will be very hard on Penn, and on you too. Don't be unkind, he deserves better.”
Madeleine withdrew, but Dee could see that she was angry, and perhaps a little scared. Why on earth did Jane matter? Madeleine had been Penn's first, and only, girlfriend. It was sad that this girl Jane had been taken, but hadn't they all lost friends?
Dee embraced Penn, and kissed him on the cheek.
“Be brave, Penn, this will be hard.”
She reached behind his head, and removed the choker.
Penn looked confused for a time, and then turned away.
Dee knew he was holding back tears.
Madeleine tried to put an arm around him, but he pushed her away.
Now Madeleine was looking confused.
“Penn, what's the matter?”
“Gods, Madeleine, Jane was my girlfriend. I saw her the day before you gave me the choker charm, and then nothing. Everything started to happen in Gynt when you arrived, Madeleine, you and your family and your stupid love charms. That is how the demon got to me, through Jane, and through the choker charm.
“And you used me, Madeleine, just like Tsanja did. I know about my family's bloodline, but I thought that the world had moved on from those days, but I know now what you both wanted from me.”
Madeleine stood still, looking at Penn, and finally grasped his meaning.
“Tsanja!?” Madeleine screamed, “How many fucking girlfriends do you have, Penn? How could you? Who else have you had? Jane, Tsanja … who else?”
Penn could not help looking towards Pamela's door.
“Oh, Gods.”
Madeleine deflated.
This was a disaster. How could she have been so stupid, so blind?
Penn turned then to Dee.
“Dee, I don't want to stay here any more. I hate this house. I just want to get out of here. The healers are just parasites, waiting to take us, taking the village, piece by piece. Let's just go home.”
Dee could feel Penn's pain, and was not sure how to proceed.
“Penn, you know that you can't leave this house. Jane is gone, Penn, she is gone. It was Jane who tried to take you in the cave, Penn, she was so hungry for you. If you leave these four walls, you will be taken. I don't even know if I am safe out there any more. We can't keep up our guard forever.”
Penn felt as if he were about to explode. He felt so impotent, so betrayed! The last few months with Madeleine had been so joyful, but they had been a lie. The village in which he had been raised had been devastated by the demon. She was taking away everyone he knew and loved. He had devoted himself to Madeleine, but her stupid charm had crippled his memory, snuffed out his love for Jane, given the demon access to his emotions.
Madeleine had made Jane a cuckold.
Tsanja and Madeleine were both the same, they were only after one thing, and Penn could not trust either of them.
Penn knew now the mistake that Madeleine had made with the chokers. The choker charms allowed people to talk. This was how Lilith had contacted him, had enchanted him, and convinced him to remove his protection.
Perhaps this was how everyone had been seduced.
The magic only worked between people in love. Did Lilith love everyone she had taken?
Dee had never been contacted when she walked in the village, and she wore Mrs Beale's charm, not one of Madeleine's.
Even Dee had been touched by the demon. Could she still be trusted?
Dee tried to get him to sit down, but all he could do was pace, like a caged animal.
“Penn, I'm sorry, but it gets worse. Please, Penn, sit down. You don't know the worst of it yet. Please, don't punish Madeleine like this. Madeleine, please, don't judge Penn just yet. I don't think any of us know the whole story yet. Penn, just settle down, and I'll tell you the rest of the story.”
Penn focused on his sister. Who could he trust? His emotions were in turmoil; not only had he lost faith in those close to himself, but the names and faces of his friends at school, his Mother, his Aunty Helen, they all crowded into his memory, and he felt devastated at their loss.
Were they all dead now?
Penn sat at the table, and put his head in his hands. He didn't want to be near anybody now. He wanted to run home, and hide in his cold bed, and hope that the nightmare of his life would just disappear.
Madeleine's eyes looked moist, but she was still hurt, and angry.
Tears trickled down Dee's cheeks.
“Penn, please. I was raped today. I lost my virginity, and I don't even know how it happened. I have learnt so much, and lost so much. Don't do this to yourself, Penn, don't do this to Madeleine. We can't just give up. I have so much to tell you both.”
Penn began to feel a twinge of guilt. His burst of self-pity and anger had been cathartic, but he had to take stock of what he had left.
He loved Jane, he loved Dee, and, he had to admit, he still loved Madeleine. Did she really deserve his disdain?
He didn't know what to think of the healers, but at least they had protected him. No, that wasn't fair. He loved his times with Pamela. He loved Pamela.
He was fond of Tsanja, too. That poor, graceless girl who had grown old. She wanted his baby. Was that so wrong?
He pulled himself together enough to talk to Dee again.
“All right, Dee, I'm sorry. Tell me what you know.”
His body language was all prickly, and there was still a wall of hurt between Madeleine and himself.
“Penn, I met Mum today. The demon has her, Auntie Helen took her. No, it's worse than that. I don't know if there is much of our mum left, Penn. The demon is her. It was Mum who took Jane, the day before Madeleine arrived. Helen must have come into the village before the Andersens.
“Mum showed me what she did with Jane. It was terrifying, I was there, I was inside Jane's head. I felt everything she did to Jane, and, at the same time, she must have been doing the same to me.
“I know why she did it, Penn.
“Since I've been making those charms, I have wanted my own baby. I don't know why. Knowing that I have been raped was bad, but I am all mixed up. I don't know if I should be crying, or laughing.
At this, Dee couldn't help smiling through her tears,
“I don't know how I know it, Penn, but I'm pregnant. I just know it. I'm having a daughter.”