Flesh For Satan

"Don't you believe that, darling?" said Cassie's mom. "Don't you believe we love you?"

Cassie looked around the circle of faces, each of them glowing in the firelight.

"Yes," she said, although hesitantly. "But I don't know what the right thing to do is."

"Then let us tell you," said Pastor Selwyn.

"That's why we're here," added Mom.

The people outside were making noise now—singing? Chanting? Cassie was in the big chair with everyone in a circle around her, silhouetted by the fireplace. She felt like it was the entire world surrounding her. This is really it, she thought, I can't win.

The tiny clock on the mantle ticked away the seconds, telling her it was well passed 11 and soon to be midnight. She sniffled and said:

"All right. Fine. But you'll have to help me."

Marie took Cassie by one hand and Steve took the other. They lead her to a small bedroom where she was not surprised to find a golden idol like the one in the Lodge House standing over the bed. Marie lit the candles while Pastor Selwyn stripped most of the linen off. Cassie stood facing Steve and he seemed uncertain, shuffling his feet and giving her a small smile in an awkward way. He seemed like his old self again. But it only lasted until Pastor Selwyn turned her around to face the statue again.

"You have to pledge yourself to Him," said the pastor. "Not just in words, but in your heart."

With that, Pastor Selwyn began to undress Cassie again, and Cassie didn't stop her. Her mother helped. When they were done, there was nothing on her lithe cheerleader's body except for the silver necklace and its crucifix, dangling from her neck. Her mother reached for it but Cassie again put up a hand to stop her.

"No," she said. "Let me."

The clasp came away easily. The whole thing dropped into a little glittering pile on the floor, which Marie kicked away. It slid off into some dark corner, forgotten. Now Cassie was naked in front of the idol. Even though it was only a statue, she swore she could feel its eyes on her. Pastor Selwyn wouldn't let her cover herself, though. Outside the little window, the crowd gathered, their candles still lit. The clock on the mantle ticked away the last remaining minutes of the year.

"You're not sure how to start," said Pastor Selwyn. "That's normal."

"Let me show you," said Marie. At some point she too had shed her clothes, and the two stood face to face, their naked bodies only a few inches apart. They'd seen each other this way before, of course, but this was different. Marie leaned in to kiss her and it felt strange. Cassie tensed and wanted to pull away, but she forced herself to stay still for it. Marie kissed her again and again, her pink tongue probing Cassie's lips. Their lithe cheerleaders' bodies pressed together, soft curves and taut lines glancing against each other.

Marie licked her lips. "Don't be shy," she said. Steve was hovering somewhere nearby, and Pastor Selwyn and Cassie's mother watched from the doorway. Marie took Cassie's face in her hands and kissed her deeper, pushing her until Cassie's back was pressed to the cold, hard surface of the statue. It had a gigantic prick that protruded against her bare behind. Marie's hands fondled Cassie, squeezing and massaging her thighs and her hips before moving up to her breasts. Cassie gasped when the other girl pinched her nipples, tugging on them until they became pink and swollen. Her body went flush, and she quivered. Marie giggled. "See? It's not so bad. Just listen to what your body tells you. That's what He wants." She stuck Cassie's fingers into her mouth and sucked.

Cassie didn't know how she felt. It seemed wrong to let Marie touch her this way, but she was becoming increasingly curious about what might happen next. The combination of familiarity (she'd known Marie for years, knew every inch of her, backwards and forwards) and strangeness (she'd never even thought of doing anything like this before) was too unexpected to be pleasant but too unusual to want it to stop. It was a lot like the taste of the wine she'd had earlier, and the woozy sensation she'd gotten when alcohol first touched her tongue and mingled with her bloodstream.

Marie's hands were on Cassie's ass now, squeezing hard as the two girls pressed together into heated, open-mouthed kisses. Cassie was still trapped against the golden statue and it was starting to hurt, but Marie didn't seem to want to let up. In fact, she seemed almost rabid to keep Cassie exactly where she wanted her. Their naked breasts pressed together, hard nipples touching and sending little jolts of surprise and pleasure through her.

All this time Cassie's own hands had been glued to her sides, but now Marie picked them up and guided them to certain places. The other girl's body was soft but toned, and her skin felt aching hot on Cassie's cold hands. At Marie's insistence she probed along the length of one thigh, then higher up, to the place where they pressed tight together. Cassie gasped when Marie pushed her hand even higher and she felt something unmistakable.

Marie purred. "See? We've all got a body, just the same as anyone else's. Nothing to be ashamed of. It's beautiful, isn't it? It should make you feel beautiful all over, inside and out. You should feel like it's the most wonderful thing in the world."

"I do," Cassie said, and it was true. But it was also the strangest and most frightening thing in the world. She knew (or imagined she knew) what it would feel like to be touched in that place, and the idea that she was making Marie feel that right now terrified her. It seemed dangerous, somehow.

Marie looked over her shoulder and nodded at Steve. "Now you," she said.

This was easier, at first. Kissing Steve felt like the most normal and familiar thing there could be. Even the feeling of their naked bodies against each other was nothing Cassie wasn't prepared to handle, since she'd imagined it many times before. And she was ready for it; she hadn't wanted it to happen like this, but even so. She longed for him to take her to the bed, but every time he tried Pastor Selwyn wouldn't let him.

"Not like that," she said. "Turn her around."

Steve obeyed, and although Cassie wanted to resist she didn't, allowing him to manhandle her. He turned her around and bent her over, so that the only way she could remain on her feet was to throw her arms around the idol and lean onto it. It was cold and hard and it made her hurt, but she held on anyway. Her ass was arched in the air and she could feel Steve moving into position. Cassie held her breath; she wanted it, but not like this. Steve seemed reluctant to, but Pastor Selwyn said, "Do it," and Cassie knew he wouldn't—couldn't—say no.

Marie crouched beside her and whispered in her ear. "It will hurt a little, but in a second you won't care."

"Look up, Cassie," said Pastor Selwyn. "Look at Him. Do this in His name."

Cassie looked up. The carved, expressionless eyes seemed to be staring right through her. She felt like she'd be crushed under that gaze, but at that moment Steve pressed in and Cassie gasped and nearly screamed as she felt herself open up. There was a feeling of something pulling away and (as promised) a sudden, sharp pain deep inside her. Reflexively, she hugged the statue even harder, to keep herself from falling. She felt a warm dribble on her leg and knew that it was blood.

"Are you all right?" Steve said.

"She's fine," said Pastor Selwyn. "Go ahead."

"I'm okay," Cassie whispered. "Really." So he did it again, and it hurt again, and then repeatedly, and eventually the hurt subsided and she felt her body open up more. Steve reached underneath her, so that some of her weight rested on his forearms while his hands (somewhat too eagerly) reached for her breasts, squeezing them in two handfuls and rolling her nipples against his fingers. She cried out again, but not in pain; this was a sound she'd never heard herself make again.

Marie looked pleased. "That's it," she said. "Isn't it just like I told you? Steve, slow down, it's not a race."

"No," Cassie said, breathing the word out in a hard rush. "Faster."

She braced herself against the idol and pushed backwards into Steve. He filled her more. Marie seemed to find this funny, but Cassie suddenly didn't care what her friend thought. She didn't care that her mother or the pastor were still watching. A hot, powerful, delicious feeling was stirring inside of her, and she wanted to feel it spread all the way through her. Marie had smeared some of the blood that had dribbled from Cassie onto the statue, and now regarded the sight of it with an expression of awe.

Cassie put her head down, so that the force of Steve's uncertain but persistent thrusting wouldn't shake her around, but Pastor Selwyn shouted again, "Look up. Look up! Know Him." Cassie looked up into the unseeing golden eyes, and somehow it didn't seem so terrible this time. Or maybe it was just that it didn't matter so much anymore. Her mouth was frozen in a kind of wide O, and the unfamiliar noise was coming out of her all the time, like a long coil unspooling itself from inside her. Soon, she thought, it will happen soon.

From outside she heard a voice, one of the Lodge members, say, "Everyone, it's almost time." And then all of their voices together said: "Ten!"

Cassie was drenched in sweat, her naked back and thighs gleaming as her hair became damp with it. Steve was covered in it too, she knew, and his breathing sounded ragged, but he didn't slow down. She wriggled around and around, swiveling her hips in an unfamiliar way and grinding against him.

From outside: "Nine! Eight! Seven!"

She wanted it harder and faster, but this seemed to be as hard and as fast as he could go. Marie clung to Cassie's legs and stroked her thighs, whispering encouragement. A throbbing feeling that had started deep inside of her was growing. Any second now it would get so big she couldn't contain it, and then it would crush her completely. But she didn't stop. She couldn't.

"Six! Five! Four!"

Right at the pivotal moment, Cassie looked up. For a split second the rest of the room faded away, leaving her alone with the golden idol. The agonizing, twisted upwell of pleasure grabbed hold of her and sent her plunging into its depths, and her arms wrapped tighter around that figure. Finally, she really did feel at one with Him. Everything they'd told her was true: This was what her body was made for, and it was made for Him. He had set her free. All of her anxiety and fears about the future melted away in an instant of unadulterated gratification.

The voices at the window cried out, "Three! Two! One!" And the little clock struck the first chime of midnight. The old year was dead. The New Year was finally born.

Steve picked Cassie up and laid her on the bed, which she fell into with a grateful sigh. All of the trials of her long night caught up with her at once, sending her into a state of blissful exhaustion. Everyone peered down at her, and her eyelids fluttered a few times as the clock finished striking. Before she drifted into unconsciousness, she heard her mother say:

"Well? Do you feel any different?"

"Yes," Cassie said, drawing the word out and tasting it, as if she'd never said it before. "Oh yes, I do. Very much."

"That's good," said Pastor Selwyn, and everyone else agreed. Cassie's mother wiped at tears.

"Oh my little angel," she said. "Mommy is so very proud of you."