11. Sebastian

11

Sebastian

“This is a wineberry.” Rose smiled as she plucked a dark red fruit off a bush. “I heard that outsiders don’t like them much, but I love them. They’re good in pies and jams.”

“I’m looking forward to trying it.”

“You can try one with me now.” She popped the wineberry in her mouth and plucked another one to hand over to me. “Mmm.”

I kept my gaze fixed on her beautiful face as I slowly chewed the berry, letting it pop in my mouth to release the sweet juices. I’d much rather have my mouth on her, tasting her juices, but she wasn’t ready for that yet.

A week had passed since my arrival in Alderwood, and things were going slowly but swimmingly. The community was still wary of me, but they’d accepted my presence and allowed me to observe most of their daily goings-on. Several of them had even accepted interviews with me to discuss their general lives, interests, and ideas about the outside world.

As for Rose, she trusted me more and more every night, letting me mutter the most sinful things to her as she closed her eyes and lay back in the hot springs. She came like a comet each time I commanded her to do so, screaming her satisfaction and thrashing in the water like she’d touched a live wire. It was beautiful and oh-so satisfying to observe. Years and years of sexual repression, finally permitted to spill out.

And spill out it did. Every time she emerged from the steaming pool on shaky legs, her arousal was always dripping down her thighs along with the sparkling droplets of spring water. The first time she noticed it, she was embarrassed, but after I told her it was a good thing, she was instantly proud of it.

She was so easy to mold. So innocent and malleable. So happy to please me.

I was still surprised by how quickly it had all happened. On my first night here, watching her flee from me like the Devil was at her tail, I assumed I’d have to change tack and wait a hell of a lot longer for her to stop being so scared of me. I’d lain awake all night, pondering my next move and wondering if I’d already fucked it all up, but then she came to my window, practically begging for me.

When I questioned her about it on the third night, she informed me that she’d come to a sudden realization during that sleepless evening—that the Entity had sent me to her for a purpose.

That purpose? To bring her pleasure.

It was amazing how a brainwashed person could rationalize things in their mind. Realistically, she was just a typical inexperienced virgin—horny as hell and desperate to experience everything the opposite sex had to offer. But in her hallowed corner of the world, she wasn’t allowed to do any of that, so she had to twist everything around and concoct all sorts of wild theories to give her a reason to let it happen anyway.

I’d give her another week before she was finally ready to slip away with me.

She pointed to the humming boundary fence in the distance. “That’s where I saw you for the first time.”

“In your vision?” I asked, lips curving in a faint smirk.

“Yes,” she said, taking a few steps closer. “You appeared right next to that tree.”

“And you were scared of me?”

“Yes.” She turned back to look at me. “I didn’t know any better.”

You still don’t, sweetheart.

“Can I ask you something?” I said, plucking another berry off the closest shrub.

“Of course.” She smiled. “Unless it’s something I’m forbidden from speaking about.”

“It’s about my mother,” I said, watching her carefully so I could gauge her non-verbal responses. “What do you remember about her?”

Rose’s smile faded, and she set her basket down. “I don’t recall much, other than what I’ve already told you in the past,” she said. “About how kind she was to me.”

“Nothing else?” I asked, forehead wrinkling. I wanted to see if she’d bring up the night she was taken; admit she was right there when it happened.

She averted her eyes. “No. I was so young,” she murmured, focusing on the shrub in front of her. “It’s hard to remember.”

Liar.

“Are you looking forward to tonight’s lunar ceremony?” she asked, hurriedly changing the subject. “I’m so glad my father invited you.”

I nodded. “I think it’ll be interesting. It’s just a shame I can’t attend the ritual afterwards.”

“I wish you could. But the Tetrad rituals are for Covenant eyes only,” Rose said, smiling beatifically. “Too sacred for outsider observation. Really, you’re very lucky Papa didn’t make you leave Alderwood while it happens.”

“I understand. I wish I could see it, though,” I said, feigning disappointment. “You make it sound incredible.”

In reality, I had no need to feel disappointed, because I’d already figured out the location of the Red Rocks several days ago, so I could sneak down there tonight and watch the third tetrad ritual unbeknownst to the Covenant.

It was easy enough to glean the location in the end. The other day, when I briefly returned to Pinecrest Falls to grab more clothes, I’d gone online and done some quick geology research. I found that red sediments didn’t occur naturally in this part of the country, meaning that any red-colored rocks in the Alderwood area had to have been brought in from other regions. That made sense, because the community had vast trade networks back in the early days, and it also narrowed things down for me considerably, because it meant I would only have to find one reddish-looking patch on the satellite map of the High Peaks Wilderness.

After that, I figured the Red Rocks had to be somewhere close to Alderwood, because everyone in the community attended the eclipse rituals that took place there, and there was no way they’d force children or elderly people to walk for hours. Especially at night. From that, I figured it was probably a twenty-minute walk maximum, so I’d focused on areas just beyond the township on the satellite photos and come across a clearing with several large rocks in the center. It was blurry, but the rocks appeared to have a vague reddish tinge to them, unlike other formations in the area which ranged from pale gray to deep brown or black.

I was almost certain that had to be it, but I’d find out for sure tonight.

Rose glanced up at the sky. “We should go back to town,” she said. “I have to make the pies for tonight’s feast before it gets too late.”

“Do you need help?”

Her gaze dropped to the forest floor. “I’d like that, but people might get suspicious if they see us spending every second together.”

“Ah.” My brows rose, and I took a step closer. “In that case, we’ll see each other again tonight.”

“At the springs?” she said, eyes wide and hopeful.

“I meant at the church, for the lunar ceremony,” I said, chuckling. “But yes, I’ll be at the springs too.”

Her cheeks flushed. “Oh. Of course. The ceremony,” she said. “That reminds me. After the pies are done, I have to go and help with the communion wine.”

I glanced down at her left arm. Though it was covered with the long sleeve of her white dress, I knew exactly what lay beneath it after spending the last seven nights watching her writhe naked in the hot springs. Several thin white scars, along with a few newer purple ones, silently displayed the history of her contributions to the Covenant’s communion wine.

Each celestial virgin had to contribute several drops of blood at least once a month, and they were all overjoyed to do it due to years of conditioning. Rose included.

She hadn’t been embarrassed for me to see the scars. She was proud of them; proud of all the years she’d served the Covenant by letting them mutilate her arm. A few nights ago, I’d asked her if it hurt when they sliced her open each time, often opening old wounds, and she said it did, but she was happy to do it to serve the Entity along with her community.

So unbelievably fucking brainwashed.

I smiled thinly and held out my arm, motioning for her to give me her basket of berries. “I’ll carry it for you.”

She beamed at me, doe eyes wide and innocent. “You’re always so kind.”

I smiled back at her. She wouldn’t be saying that a few weeks from now.

When we returned to town, she headed off to do her duties, and I trudged up to my room in the tavern to work on transcribing my mother’s notes onto my laptop. I didn’t need to do it, because I’d already read the notes a hundred times, but I knew there was a chance Augustus might want to check out what I’d been working on, so I needed to have something to show him so that I had a valid reason to continue my stay.

Surprisingly, though, I hadn’t seen much of him over the last week. He was a busy man, spending most of his time governing the town with his fellow elders or visiting the forbidden cave with the alchemists to work on God knows what.

I still had no idea where that cave was located. I hadn’t had the chance to go off alone and explore the surrounding woods, because the Alderwood villagers were almost always by my side. If I wasn’t hanging out with Rose, another one of them would offer to let me observe them at their job or have lunch or afternoon tea with them at their home.

The only time I was truly alone was when I came up here to the room they’d given me. Clearly, they didn’t want me exploring the place and stumbling upon anything that might make them look bad, so they used the constant company as a friendly mask for their true mission—preventing me from wandering off alone. It was fucking infuriating.

I had gleaned one useful piece of information about the cave, though. Today, in fact. Rose had invited me to check out the secret berry-picking spot she’d discovered years ago, which apparently yielded the sweetest fruits, and on our way there, I’d noticed her purse her lips and shudder when she looked down a certain path that diverged from the one we were on.

I asked her why she looked so afraid all of a sudden, and she told me that she hated walking past the entrance to this path because of what lay at the end. Apparently, the path circled the valley farmstead before heading farther up into the mountains, where the forbidden cave lay. After that, she immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, realizing she’d revealed too much, but I promised her I wouldn’t go looking for it.

Unfortunately for her, my promises carried the exact same level of truth her own words did, when she told me she had no idea what happened to my mother.

At sundown, I headed downstairs to meet with the tavern owners, who had been tasked with accompanying me to the evening’s lunar feast. They escorted me to the town square and showed me over to a chair at the end of a long table, where the four town healers were already seated. Apparently, they’d figured I might have a nice time chatting to these guys while I ate, as all four of the men had spent multiple years on the outside in order to get their medical qualifications.

I had to admit, they were right. It was a lot easier to speak to these guys than most of the others in the village. Given how much time they’d spent on the outside, they understood a lot more about the modern world, and they weren’t afraid of discussing it. One of them even asked me for an update on the football team he’d followed while he was in college.

While they were all friendly and jovial and the conversation flowed easily, there was an undercurrent of distrust and suspicion, coming from both sides. The healers clearly didn’t understand why I was here, despite my explanation along with Augustus’s blessing, and I didn’t believe them when they said they didn’t remember my mother at all. The youngest one I could believe, as he was only a kid when she was here, but the others ranged from mid-forties to seventy-something. They were all fully grown adults when my mother was doing her research in the community, and yet they all went stiff or blank when her name was mentioned.

Just like everyone else in this town, they obviously knew what happened to her. They just didn’t want to admit it. Either that or they weren’t permitted to speak about her at all, to keep the coverup intact.

Somewhere around nine o’clock, a horn blew, signaling that we should all proceed to the cathedral for the lunar ceremony. The blood moon that the Covenant was celebrating tonight hung ominously in the night sky, casting an eerie red glow across the landscape, and several members had donned crimson robes and covered their faces with stag masks. As I followed them down the street, I was struck by the strange sensation that I’d stepped into another world entirely; something eldritch and dangerous.

The old cathedral loomed ahead, spires piercing the sky like jagged teeth. When I stepped through the door, the air was thick with the spicy scent of incense, along with wisps of smoke from wrought-iron candelabras. Many members of the congregation were already seated, their faces illuminated by the crimson glow of the moon streaming through the windows.

I spotted Rose in a pew at the front, and she beckoned me over. “My father thought you should have a seat up here,” she whispered when I arrived. “That way you can see everything properly. For your notes.”

I nodded, turning my attention to the altar at the front. A woman in a flowing white gown was kneeling there with a serene expression on her face, her eyes closed as if in a trance. Behind her, black-robed elders were chanting in low voices.

“Do you have a ceremony like this during every eclipse?” I asked, looking at Rose again.

She nodded. “Yes, it happens once or twice a year. Except this year, obviously, because of the tetrad.”

Augustus emerged from a back room, garbed in elaborate black and red robes. He raised his hands, and the chanting from the elders grew louder, reverberating through the cavernous space.

The woman in white smiled as he approached her. He briefly turned to the altar to wet one of his fingers in a dark, oily-looking substance, and then he anointed her forehead with a strange-looking symbol.

“The Entity’s mark,” Rose whispered to me. “It will guide him to her when she submits later.”

Augustus wiped his hands on a cloth that lay on the altar. Then he lifted his palms, and the church fell silent.

“Brothers and sisters,” he boomed. “Gathered here under the gaze of the blood moon, we stand at the threshold of the ancient and divine. We honor the celestial forces that guide and protect us, and we draw upon the strength of our ancestors, who understood the profound connection between heaven and earth, light and shadow, faith and magic. This union is not one of contradiction, but of harmony. Praise the Entity.”

A low murmur rose in the cathedral. “Praise the Entity.”

“We are here tonight to celebrate one of our most revered celestial virgins,” Augustus went on. “Elise Dubois kneels before us, a beacon of purity and devotion, prepared to embrace the path laid out by the divine. Please, everyone… show her the strength of your support.”

A cheer went up in the cathedral, and Elise beamed and rose to her feet.

Augustus lifted his hands to silence the space yet again. “As the blood moon bathes us in its light, let us remember the power it holds—the power to transform, to reveal, and to renew. Its cycles mirror our own journeys, reminding us that every end is a new beginning. Tonight, Elise will begin her new life, submitted and bound to the Entity. Her journey is both a personal transformation and a testament to her faith, and through her, we all find strength and inspiration. In the name of the Entity, we give our thanks.”

A wide grin spread over Augustus’s face, and another rousing cheer filled the cathedral. The congregation rose to their feet, clamoring to reach the front in order to embrace Elise.

“What happens now?” I asked, looking at Rose again.

“Soon, we’ll head to the Red Rocks. Elise will meet with the Entity there and submit herself to him.”

“And that’s the part I can’t see, right?”

She gave me a rueful smile. “Sorry. It’s a sacred ritual, so you can’t witness it. In fact, you’re very lucky you weren’t asked to leave our land altogether while this goes on. My father must be feeling generous.”

I clenched my jaw and forced a smile in return. “I’m glad I was welcome to see the preceding ceremony, at least,” I said. I turned back to look at Elise. “She looks excited.”

“She is excited,” Rose said, eyes crinkling at the corners. “She’s waited her whole life for this. Now she’s finally reaping the rewards.”

“And then it’s your turn in four weeks.”

She nodded again, looking positively giddy. “I can’t wait.”

The Covenant members slowly filed out of the church and made their way to a path on the edge of town, flanked by flaming torches. Two burly men were posted at the top of the path, presumably to stop me from following everyone.

I bade Rose goodnight and pretended I was heading to the tavern, but instead of going all that way, I doubled back through a narrow alley and crept out of Alderwood on a different path. From there, I forged my way through the woods, following the map I’d created when I found the Red Rocks in the satellite photos.

I was close enough to the others to hear their excitement and see the glow of their flaming torches slicing through the woods, but still far enough away that they wouldn’t catch a glimpse of me or hear my footsteps crunching over the forest floor as I made my way toward the clearing.

I stopped and consulted the map again ten minutes later, using the faint glow of my cellphone to illuminate it. Just ahead of me lay a thicket on a slightly elevated knoll that overlooked the clearing. That seemed like the best place to hide and observe the ritual proceedings.

After finding a decent spot in the thicket, I crouched down, peering through the tangled branches at the enormous clearing below. The elders, draped in their hooded black cloaks, moved around with slow, deliberate grace, serving chalices of communion wine to the gathered Covenant members, who eagerly accepted the dark liquid.

The people began to dance and sway, movements growing increasingly unsteady and feverish. The wine must’ve been laced with something other than celestial virgin blood, heightening the crowd’s state of ecstasy and enrapturement. No doubt things would soon descend into the same sort of orgy I witnessed a week ago in their main ritual clearing.

I finally spotted Rose, standing with her father near the middle of the clearing. She looked just as excited as everyone else, cheeks flushed pink and lips spread wide in an enthusiastic grin. Augustus leaned in and said something to her before patting her on the shoulder and moving closer to the center.

The Red Rocks were mostly obscured by the massive crowd, but eventually, enough people moved away to reveal Elise Dubois sitting on the largest rock, which was a low, reddish-brown monolith surrounded with flickering candles. She was still clothed in her simple white gown, a serene smile affixed to her face.

When Augustus arrived, the other elders gathered around the rock too, chanting in low, rhythmic tones. A horn finally blew on the edge of the clearing, and the Covenant grew quiet, save for a few giggles and murmurs.

I inched closer, straining my eyes and ears to catch everything I could, and my heart pounded in my chest, a steady drumbeat of excitement and anticipation. Augustus’s voice rang out, declaring something in an unfamiliar language, and Elise’s smile widened. She lay down on the stone and clasped her hands on her abdomen.

Augustus’s right hand moved down to the lower front part of his robe, and I had a feeling I knew exactly what was about to happen. He would remove the robe and mount Elise, claiming that the Entity was working through his body. Then he’d fuck her, and she’d gladly take every second of it, truly believing she was submitting her body to the Entity.

The elders’ chant rose again, louder this time. Elise moved farther to the edge of the stone, head hanging right off the edge. Augustus’s hand was still fumbling with his robe, but a moment later, he produced a gleaming blade.

With mounting horror, I watched as he drew it across Elise’s exposed throat in a swift, practiced motion. Blood sprayed in a gruesome arc, painting the rock and the ground beneath it. Elise convulsed slightly, then lay still, her lifeblood pooling below.

With that, the Covenant crowd erupted into cheers and chants, their bodies writhing in a collective frenzy of ecstasy.

My stomach churned, acid rising in my throat. Holy fucking shit.

I should’ve realized what was happening tonight. It was the oldest fucking practice in the book—virgin sacrifice. Murder disguised as spiritual devotion.

But even after what happened to my mother all those years ago, I didn’t see it coming. I was swayed by the radiant excitement and lust in Rose’s eyes every time she discussed her upcoming ritual of submission, and so I’d assumed it was a sexual thing. Not this shit.

My eyes scanned the crowd, searching for Rose again. As I expected, she looked elated, her face alight with fervor and joy.

A cold fist clenched at my gut as I watched her lift her arms and sway to the drumbeats that were now filling the clearing. I had to get her the fuck out of this place. Not because I cared about her, but because I needed her for my plan to work. If she was dead, sacrificed to the fucking Entity, then I’d be right back to square one.

I couldn’t have that. Couldn’t risk it. That meant I had to ramp things up and get my little Rose the fuck out of this toxic place as soon as possible.

Not even God—or the fucking Entity—could save the people who got in the way of that.