by Lola Swain
On the day that she and Alexander sailed to the Battleroy site, Athena was a flutter of nerves. Her mother warned her not to open her mouth, lest she ruin the only opportunity that she had to marry. So, Athena tried to keep quiet and swooned over Alexander’s dashing looks. Alexander was also excited, but for a different reason.
He held a beautiful curio box under his arm, hand-carved out of heavy wood and framed with thick-paned glass. Inside the box, wrapped in sumptuous red velvet, were the ancient texts and diaries. He also included two additions to the collection. Alexander’s own diary, which he began anew after his mother destroyed his original writings, was thrown into the box along with a well-read copy of the Liber Juratus, an ancient and valuable grimoire he purchased from the nefarious stationer in Boston where he purchased the majority of his pornographic pictures.
The sea was rough the day the Captain brought Alexander and his intended bride to the Battleroy site. Foreman Thomas Conway was at the dock to meet Alexander and take him on the grand tour of the building and the grounds. Alexander was amazed at the work that was completed in the year since he stepped foot on the land.
The main building, the hotel for all intents and purposes, was close to completion. A building that spanned several thousand square feet and ten stories tall, the Battleroy was faced in beautiful Italian marble and looked like a European castle, complete with beautiful towers, their points covered in thick copper sheeting.
When they entered the foyer, Athena gasped.
“It’s just like the Parker House!” Athena said.
“Yes,” Alexander said as he looked around the room, “it’s almost too nice for its purpose.”
Thomas Conway showed Alexander around enthusiastically hoping his boss was more than happy with the progress. Though everything had yet to be decorated, Thomas Conway was even himself surprised that the strange, aloof man was able to pull of such a vision. He and his crew worked around the clock to ensure the project’s completion and he had more money coming to him than he made in the previous ten years.
The guest rooms totaled four hundred, with one hundred and twenty-five designated as suites. Each room had its own bathroom and exquisite claw-foot tub. The ballroom and dining room took up a majority of the downstairs space and an enormous wine cellar rounded out the basement area.
Every inch of space in the hotel that was accessible through common corridors and halls was also accessible through secret panels in many of the large rooms that led to hidden passages and stairways built between the interior and exterior walls of the hotel. From the time of his wanders, it was Alexander’s greatest desire to be able to strike upon anything unseen until the very last moment. The secret passageways he designed within the hotel accomplished his desire.
Alexander asked Thomas Conway to show them the library and he donated the library’s very first editions when he laid his curio box gently on one of the built-in mahogany shelves.
He was not interested in seeing the offices or any other utilitarian portions of the hotel and insisted on a tour of the grounds. When he saw Adelaide in the distance, he ran toward the statue as if she was a long-lost relative and fell to his knees at her base.
“Beautiful,” he said and kissed her stone feet.
“Alexander, you should make this a rose garden, they have them all over Europe,” Athena said.
“Yes, roses,” Alexander said and turned to Athena, “you may plan that, my love. Conway, did you hear that? Roses all around!”
Athena giggled and was smitten with Alexander’s commanding qualities. She twirled her hair in her finger and swayed from side to side as she batted her long eyelashes that framed her pretty brown eyes. Between the beauty of Adelaide and the admiration of Athena, Alexander felt something in himself stir and he looked at Thomas Conway and waved him off.
“You and your crew, leave us,” Alexander said. “Back on Monday, okay?”
Mr. Conway gathered his crew and lumbered toward the shore. He looked back at his strange boss and shook his head as he and his crew hopped aboard the worker’s boat and went home.
“They took the boat!” Athena said. “How will we get home?”
“Can’t you swim?” Alexander said and walked toward Athena.
“Well, yes. But this seems like a very far swim, Alexander.”
“Our boat is still here, Athena,” Alexander said and shook his head. “They took the employee boat.”
“Oh,” Athena said and looked at her feet and giggled.
Alexander grabbed Athena by her shoulders and spun her around and slammed her up against the front of Adelaide.
“Ouch,” Athena said and rubbed the back of her head, “that hurt!”
Alexander pressed his body against Athena’s while he ran his hands up and down Adelaide’s stone body.
“You are very beautiful,” Alexander said to both of the ladies.
“Thank you,” Athena said. “So are you.”
Alexander grinded his body against Athena and pressed his lips against her jugular vein. He felt it flutter against his mouth and he dragged his tongue up the side of her neck.
“You make my prick hard,” Alexander said as he rubbed against Athena’s dress.
“Thank you,” Athena said. “You make mine hard too.”
Alexander pulled back from her and cocked his head to the side.
“What?”
“I’m sorry,” Athena said and blushed. “I don’t have one of those, you know. I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be,” Alexander said and massaged Athena’s breasts. “You are in good hands. Do you know what I want to do?”
“No,” Athena said and looked down.
“I want to invoke the spirits,” Alexander said and walked away from Athena.
“What?” Athena said and watched Alexander pull out a long knife from its sheath that hung around his waist.
Alexander stabbed the freshly tamped soil with the tip of his knife and formed a large circle in the ground in front of Adelaide. Athena jumped out of the way and stood to the side as Alexander carved a symbol in the middle of the large circle. Athena shook her head and covered her eyes when she realized what the symbol was.
“Is that a—”
“Pentagram?” Alexander said. “Yes, it is.”
“So you are a—”
“Occultist?” Alexander said. “Of sorts. Amateur, more or less.”
“A witch?” Athena said.
“No, don’t be silly,” Alexander said and chuckled. “If you want to leave, we’ll leave. Or you can leave, I’ll stay.”
“What? No, I’m just surprised,” Athena said. “I thought we were all the same.”
“No one is all the same. The invocation of the spirits means different things to different people. By all means, you don’t have to stay. I just figured you’d be different.”
“How, different?” Athena said.
“Accepting, I suppose. But look, it’s okay. No harm done. We can call off the wedding.”
“I never said I wouldn’t do this. I don’t want to call off the wedding. Please don’t,” Athena said and ran toward Alexander and stepped into the circle.
“Okay,” Alexander said. “Now be very still as I call for the spirit. Don’t say a word, do you understand?”
“Y-Yes,” Athena said.
Alexander held his machete high over his head while he gripped Athena’s hand.
“‘In the name of Satan, the Ruler of the Earth, the King of the world, I command the forces of Darkness to bestow their infernal power upon me,” Alexander said as he stabbed toward the sky with his machete. “Open wide the Gates of Hell and come forth from the Abyss to greet me as your brother. I have taken thy Name as part of Myself. I live as the beasts of the field, rejoicing in the fleshly life. By all the Gods of the Pit, come forth and answer to your Names!”
Athena whimpered as the wind kicked up the soil around them. She tried to free herself from Alexander’s grasp, but he held her with an iron grip. She closed he
r eyes tightly and begged for her God silently.
“Diabolus ex north!” Alexander said. “Lucifer ex occasus! Belial ex meridianus! Leviathan ex oriens!”
Alexander stuck the blade of the machete into the ground and grabbed Athena and they both fell to their knees inside the circle.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Athena whispered as she clapped her hands over her ears and shook her head.
Alexander then recited the Lord’s Prayer in Latin backward.
“Ave Diablous!” Alexander said as he lifted his arms to the sky. “Spíritus Sancti, et Fílii et in nómine Patris!”
Alexander breathed heavily and slumped over his knees. Athena didn’t know what to do, but she was too frightened to move. Finally, she reached out and placed her hand on Alexander’s back.
“Alexander?”
Alexander didn’t move and Athena looked around the area. Darkness was starting to come and she looked up at the creepy statue before her and shivered.
“Alexander,” Athena said and shook him, “please wake up!”
Alexander popped up quickly and looked at her. She did not care for the look in his eyes. She was certain Satan entered him.
“We should go,” Athena said. “I-It’s getting dark.”
“Not yet,” Alexander said and gripped the handle of his machete sticking straight up from the ground. “Not until I get my due.”
“What do you mean?”
“You,” Alexander said and pounced on top of Athena. “I told you that you made my prick hard and it is still hard.”
“Now? I’ve never done this!” Athena said.
“Perfect, I can’t marry a whore, anyway.”
Alexander tugged at Athena’s dress and pushed it up toward her head. He ripped at her undergarments while he undid his pants and spread Athena’s legs apart.
“Are you watching me, Adelaide?” Alexander said.
“Who is Adelaide?” Athena said.
“Shut up. It doesn’t matter. Now, show me that cunt that is just for me.”
Alexander rubbed Athena with one hand as he tore at the bodice of her dress with the other and pulled her breasts out.
Athena never exposed her body to anyone and her mother always preached virtue and piety. Now, the man who she was to marry, who was also her cousin, was crudely penetrating her with his fingers as they writhed around in the dirt inside a Pentagram. Athena focused on Adelaide’s eyes and didn’t move from her gaze. There was something about the statue that terrified Athena and made her feel that she would burn in hell for what she did.
“Look at me,” Alexander said and pulled at Athena’s face. “Look at my cock.”
Athena’s eyes got big as moons as she looked down her body at Alexander’s penis. It was the first penis she ever saw and she could not believe how large it was. Alexander stroked it back and forth in front of Athena and as she watched him pleasure himself, she was a little more relaxed.
“Does looking at me make that happen?”
“Yes,” Alexander said. “You are beautiful.”
“I want to feel all that you are and all that I do to you,” Athena said.
Alexander plunged his cock into Athena’s virgin pussy and they both screamed in unison. As Alexander pumped his hips, Athena was more relaxed and wrapped her legs around Alexander’s waist. She stared at the statue as Alexander slammed his cock in and out of her and Athena thought that Adelaide smiled at her.
Athena looked up at the sky and saw clouds rolling in, but she couldn’t tell if they were the good clouds or the bad. And when she turned her head and looked into the woods, she saw a handsome man push a beautiful woman up against a tree. The couple watched Alexander and Athena and then mimicked their encounter.
“Alexander, wait,” Athena said and pulled at his shoulders.
Alexander paused his cock’s thrusts and looked into Athena’s eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“Over there,” Athena said and pointed at the woods, “that couple is watching us!”
Alexander looked into the woods, but saw nothing. He smiled when he realized he was giving the girl visions.
“Good,” Alexander said and kissed Athena’s face, “let’s give them a real show.”
Alexander slammed into Athena to his root and out to his tip, over and over until Athena felt she would faint.
“I’m so dizzy,” Athena said and gasped.
In a final, harsh thrust, Alexander bent his back so deeply that he looked at Adelaide upside down as he emptied his cock into Athena.
“Ave Diablous!” Alexander said as he came. “Ave Diablous!”
Alexander fell forward onto Athena’s body and Athena cried out and pummeled Alexander’s back with her fists. She believed she was having a seizure as every muscle in her young, tender body convulsed around Alexander.
“I’m ill,” Athena said. “Something is wrong.”
“You’re fine,” Alexander said. “You just came.”
“Is that what this feeling is?” Athena asked.
“Yes, that’s what that is,” Alexander said and wiggled his hips back and forth.
Alexander came up on his elbows and stared at the beautiful young girl underneath him. Athena was the first person Alexander had sex with who he didn’t abduct.
“Did the Devil come?” Athena said.
“Yes,” Alexander said and chuckled, “the Devil came.”
“A thing of Belial cleaveth fast unto him and now that he is laid down, he will rise up no more,” Athena said and turned away from Alexander’s gaze.
“Okay,” Alexander said and sighed as he withdrew from Athena. “I suppose the fun is over.”
Alexander stood from Athena’s body and pulled his pants up. He walked over to Adelaide and kissed her stone mouth. Athena looked at him with disgust and got herself up off the ground. She felt wetness between her legs as she hobbled out of the circle and was equally horrified that it could be blood or whatever Alexander released inside her body.
“I thought of you the whole time,” Alexander said into Adelaide’s ear and turned and yanked his machete out of the earth. “Shall we go, my love?”
Athena was humiliated by Alexander’s nonchalance. She felt like one of those women who stood outside the taverns in Boston and waited for a man to come along to buy drinks…or something else.
“Yes, please,” Athena said and looked down at the ground.
“Please, you needn’t do this, Athena. We will still be married and I realize you’re not a virgin any longer. Everything is just the same as it was when we first stepped on this ground.”
Alexander started to the shore toward their boat and Athena tagged along after him with her head down.
“No, it isn’t,” Athena said as she followed Alexander over a sand dune. “Nothing is the same.”
“No one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatest good.”
Plato
Athena said not one word to Alexander as they traveled back to Boston. She knew what he was and she did not like it one bit. Athena decided that she didn’t care that Alexander was her only option. She would not carry on the Battle name if it meant breeding with Satan to produce his spawns.
When Alexander said that they needed to make a stop back at his house because he had something to show her, she wracked her troubled brain to think of an excuse. Athena wanted to go back to her house and in her daft head, she planned her escape. She would go to Paris, she thought, and get far away from Alexander and the rest of them.
Alexander forged ahead, despite the fact that he had to drag his bride-to-be back to his home and when they entered the side gate into the back garden, Athena stopped and pulled back on Alexander’s arm.
“What’s wrong now?” Alexander said as he turned to face Athena.
“Where are we going? I would like to say hello to Aunty,” Athena said.
“We are going to my office. Cut it with that Aunty dung, Athena. She will be your mo
ther-in-law soon. And she’s not home.”
Athena allowed Alexander to pull her through the back garden.
“It’s like a fairy tale cottage!” Athena said as she stared at cottage she heard much about.
“Yes,” Alexander said poised at the door with his hand on the knob, “it’s a real fairy tale.”
Alexander opened the door to his office and as he walked in, damp heat hit Athena in the face. She covered her mouth with her hand and stood at the doorway.
“What is it?” Alexander said from the middle of the room.
“The smell,” Athena said and choked. “What is that?”
Alexander walked toward Athena and smiled. He was growing tired of her stupid games and wondered, now that he summoned the Devil, if he really needed her any longer. After all, he was sure that his God could get him any number of virgins now and it didn’t seem that violating Athena in the circle turned her anywhere near a succubus.
“You’ll get used to it,” Alexander said and snatched Athena’s arm and yanked her into the office.
Athena continued to wretch and her panic rose as she thought she would vomit. She remembered that smell from when she was a child and the servants found a wall full of dead rats in their mud room.
“I think you need someone out here,” Athena said. “I think you may have rodents.”
“Yes,” Alexander said and pushed Athena into the sofa in front of the stone fireplace.
“I’ve heard much about your classroom, Alexander,” Athena said as she slid away from Alexander when he sat on the sofa next to her.
“It is an office,” Alexander said. “Why do you move away from me, Athena? Please tell me that the virtue has not infected you again.”
“I-I’m frightened of you, Alexander,” Athena said.
That seemed to please Alexander very much as he smiled. Athena thought his smile was still charming, handsome, in fact, but now also evil.
“You should be,” Alexander said as he reached under her dress and gripped her thigh.
“But, I don’t care to do that again,” Athena said and looked down at her dress. “I’m frightened.”
“Frightened seems to be the only big word you know,” Alexander said and pushed his hand up her leg toward her undergarments. “But you did not seem so frightened when I shoved myself into you on my land. In fact, your sweet cunt dripped honey all over my cock, if I remember. Dripped, Athena.”