Mistress of the Mortal Realm Book One Read online

  By ten o’clock the next morning, she was 300 miles away. When she got home, she pulled up the Tulsa Examiner’s web site on her computer. The police said they had no clues as to the identity of the person who strangled Ida Mae Thornton, 35, mother of three, but several men, known sex offenders, were being questioned.

  “Yes,” Lucy answered the old man, recalling that night and the thrill she had experienced as she felt the woman’s life ebbing away. “Yes, I am.”

  He smiled. “I thought that you might be,” he said. “But I must give you this warning. The demon of the book is crafty, a devourer of souls. You must be strong and crafty as well to keep him enslaved. One slip, and he will drag you down to the depths of hell. Are you prepared to take that risk?”

  “Yes,” Lucy said with as much fortitude as she could muster. “I am.”

  The man leaned back as if he had completed a task. “Enjoy the book, miss,” he said. “That’ll be £1,250 for the diary of Sister Maria Therese. Mr. Ripley’s diary is no charge.”

  Lucy counted out the crisp bills. The man wrapped the two books up in brown paper and tied them off with string. He handed the package to Lucy. “Good luck, miss,” he said grimly. “You will need it.”

  ***

  Lucy recalled the old man’s wish of good luck to her as she dragged Penelope’s unconscious body along the elegantly tiled floor of her sumptuous kitchen. There had been some luck involved in her meeting with the voluptuous college freshman.

  It had been at a wild sorority party she had wormed her way into. The beautiful but shy girl was nursing a glass of white wine. She was wearing blue jeans and a rust colored t-shirt that advertised a breast cancer march that had been held several weeks before. On her feet were a pair of worn, white athletic shoes. Her straw blond hair was drawn behind her head in a ponytail.

  Two of the sorority sisters had decided to let it all hang out and were kissing feverishly on a couch, their hands wandering each other’s bodies. Most of the other women attending were looking on with disdain, but Lucy could detect the lust that was arising in Penelope’s eyes. She edged her way over to the girl nonchalantly.

  “Your eyes are popping out of your head,” she told the young girl.

  Penelope gave a start and a flustered look crossed her face. “I-I…” she started to say.

  “It makes me hot too,” Lucy told her. Lucy looked younger than her age. There was not a spot of grey in her hair and she had dressed as youthfully as her age would allow.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t do this,” Penelope blurted out. She placed her wineglass down on a side table and ran out the door. Lucy followed her, keeping back. The young girl seemed to be just what she had been hunting for. She didn’t want to lose her. She came across her at the edge of some bushes a block or so from the sorority party. She was crying inconsolably.

  “What’s wrong?” Lucy asked her. “I’m sorry if I offended you.”

  Penelope looked up and her crying intensified. Lucy, emboldened by the girl’s helplessness, drew nearer. She curled an arm around her hunched shoulders. The girl moved closer to her and placed her head on Lucy’s shoulder.

  “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” the girl sobbed. “It’s so wrong, but I can’t help myself. What’s wrong with me? I don’t want to be like this! I want to be normal!”

  “There, there,” Lucy comforted her. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just different, that’s all. Not everyone is the same.”

  “I want to believe that,” the girl sniffled, her sobbing having abated. “But I can’t!”

  Lucy invited her to have a cup of coffee. They talked for three hours. Penny was from a strict fundamentalist Christian family. If her father and mother ever got a hint of her inclinations, they would curse her name and ban her from their lives. She talked of frustrating efforts to become friendly with boys, the few, fumbling attempts at sex with them, going no farther than a rough, masculine hand on her unresponsive pudenda. She spoke about her girl friends, how even when she was a little girl she felt drawn to them, their softness and their musical voices, the smell of their bodies, their lips and, as she got older, their breasts.

  High school had been a torment for her. She was pretty and had developed early. All the boys watched her with hungry, lustful eyes. In the girls’ locker room, she burned with desire as she watched, as surreptitiously as she could, the bodies of the other girls.

  There had been one friend, a girl called Nancy, who she had become very close to in her junior year. One night, when Nancy was staying over, she snuck two glasses of whiskey from her father’s liquor cabinet. He was a raging fundamentalist, but had developed a taste for demon alcohol all the same. They mixed the whiskey with 7 Up and they both drank it quickly.

  They were in her bed, watching a movie on TV. Suddenly, she became overwhelmed with need to be comforted by Nancy’s arms, became feverish to drink at her lips. She placed her hand on Nancy’s chin, turned her head and kissed her. Nancy kissed her back. That night they explored each other’s bodies with their hands and lips until they both reached apotheosis several times and fell asleep in each other’s arms. The next morning, Nancy couldn’t wait to have her mother pick her up and she steadfastly avoided any further contact with Penny. It broke her heart.

  Lucy, although her preferences really lay in the other direction, carefully explained that she was that way too. She invented adolescent fumblings and college trysts. She told Penny that there was nothing wrong with her, that loving another woman was, for some, as natural as breathing. By the end, Penny was smiling and laughing as they exchanged stories of their disastrous episodes with boys. Penny had a wonderful, innocent face. Her skin was pale and lustrous. Her blue eyes sparkled.

  Lucy didn’t make any moves on her that night, but coaxed her into giving her her cell phone number. She waited a few days and then called, inviting her to a museum. They had lunch afterwards. Lucy noted with satisfaction that Penny had put on some makeup and had worn a pretty, knee length skirt and a complementary halter top. Their dates went from weekly to every few days. Lucy took every opportunity to place her hand on Penny’s skin, touching her arm or holding her hand. She bought her several small presents, books of poetry and a little doll from one of the craft shows they went to.

  Their first kiss was almost accidental. They had been walking in the park and had gotten caught in the rain. By the time they reached a pavilion, they were both soaked. They laughed as they tried to catch their breaths. It was Penny who made the move. She took hold of Lucy’s hand, smiled at her and told her how happy she had made her. She gazed into Lucy’s eyes, moved her face forward and planted a soft, tentative kiss on her lips. Before anything else could be made of it, another couple, drenched to the bone, a young man and woman, ran under the pavilion. Lucy and Penny sat at a picnic table, burning, while they watched the comely couple kiss and fondle each other as they waited for the storm to abate.

  When the rain subsided to a sprinkle, Lucy and Penny walked hand in hand to Lucy’s car. Lucy drove to a remote part of the park, parked the car, leaned over and took Penny in her arms. They kissed each other hungrily. They had planned to go out to dinner, but Lucy suggested that they take out Chinese and go to her house. Penny agreed readily. As soon as they stepped in the door, just after Lucy had placed the take out bags down on the kitchen counter, they fell into each other’s arms.

  Their first coupling was raw, almost savage. They didn’t make it to the bedroom, but made love right there on the kitchen floor. There was so much pent up lust between them that it exploded from their bodies. Lucy suckled Penny’s plump, pale breasts with fevered abandon, making the young girl moan and writhe with pleasure. Their hot bodies merged, their legs intertwined, their pussies met. Penny came first, releasing a deep, throaty groan of pleasure. Then it was Lucy’s turn as she buried her tongue deeply into Penny’s mouth, ground her pussy’s lips against Penny’s drawing their bodies closely together.

  They ate the Chinese food in the nude on the fl
oor, laughing and kissing. After, she led Penny to her bedroom. They pulled the bedcovers down together. Lucy pushed Penny back down on the mattress, and after kissing her passionately, let her lips drift down the young girl’s body, suckling at her teats, kissing her taut belly, until her tongue found her excited crevasse. Penny writhed and moaned as Lucy administered the girl’s first oral pleasuring. She made her come twice. Each time, Penny arched her back, took hold of Lucy’s bobbing head and screamed her pleasure. When Lucy was done, Penny began to cry. She threw herself into Lucy’s arms and declared her love for her. Lucy knew then that she had her hooked.

  They did their best to keep their relationship secret from all of Penny’s friends and especially her parents. They made love several times a week, always at Lucy’s house. She rarely spent the night, except on weekends when her roommate was away. Lucy taught her every trick she knew about pleasuring a woman’s body and Penny was an avid, enthusiastic student. She sucked Lucy’s pussy with lustful abandon and when they conjoined, their lips locked on each other’s mushy crevasse, she groaned and moaned her delight as she probed Lucy’s canal with her energetic tongue, beaming with happiness afterwards.

  As she dragged Penny’s inert body across the kitchen floor, Lucy admitted to herself how much she would miss the delightful girl. She had a pang of conscience as how unfair and unjust it was to betray the sweet girl’s love. But a sacrifice was not a sacrifice unless it involved some pain. The allure of the gifts of the Golden Grimoire was just too strong to resist. Besides, there were countless sweet young things out there. With the powers she would possess after the ceremony, she would be able to collect a hundred of them.

  Penelope was a heavy load as her dead weight was hauled across the kitchen floor to the basement stairs. Lucy was in fine physical shape, she worked out daily and she liked to think of herself as being as strong as most men of her height and build. She was tall at 5’9” and broad shouldered. She had kept her physique shapely and she had been blessed with full pulchritude. Penelope was a tasty tidbit, with heavy, alabaster breasts. Lucy was dragging the girl with her arms around her upper torso, locked under her armpits, and the girl’s short, flouncy, yellow skirt advertised her pale, slender thighs. One of her sandals had come off as Lucy was dragging her and Lucy made a note to retrieve it.

  When she arrived at the stairs, Lucy rolled the unconscious young girl onto a long, wide board. There was no way she wanted to risk carrying her down the stairs. The ceremony called for an untainted body and the least bruise might cause things to go all wrong. If she had to sacrifice the poor girl, she at least wanted it to be worthwhile. Besides, when Penny’s disappearance became known, there would be awkward questions. Without the persuasive powers that the grimoire would grant, she might be arrested for her murder.

  It was another piece of luck finding this mansion. It had been remarkably well kept for premises that had been abandoned for so many years. But it was perhaps not so surprising given the tales that had been told about it. Parts of the foundation were said to be over 200 years old. Back in the sixties it had been owned by a reclusive millionaire. He was said to have been a Satan worshipper and the tales of the bacchanalias that had allegedly occurred there were legendary in the community.

  One morning, the owner was found nailed to a large upside down crucifix in the basement. All of the blood had been drained from his body and the chalky remnants of a large, involved pentagram had been found on the floor. The murder was never solved.

  The local legend had it that the basement contained a gateway to hell. Lucy had found out about it during her research for the grimoire. It was within a 30 minute drive from her office and was selling for a song. The real estate agent tried vainly to talk her out of buying it. Lucy had just received a substantial bonus for a deal she had helped put through and the bank willingly gave her the loan for the mortgage plus the $90,000 that it took to remodel and modernize it. The cavernous basement she had left untouched. The crucifix that the man had been murdered on was still there.

  Having lashed Penny to the board, she commenced lowering it down the stairs with a rope. When it reached the bottom, Lucy went down the stairs after her, closing the door behind. The cellar was divided into several rooms separated by concrete retaining walls. The room where the ceremony would take place, where the prior owner had been found murdered, was at the rear of the house. Lucy dragged Penny’s body there. The ceilings of the basement were high, higher than Lucy had ever seen, over 15’. It was completely below ground. There were no windows. Only a string of bare bulbs lit Lucy’s way. When she reached the final room, she released the rope to the makeshift sled and took a look around.

  She had drawn the outline of the complicated pentagram beginning at midnight last night. The directions in the grimoire specified that it had to be done in darkness no more than 24 hours before the ceremony. Rather than do it tonight, she had done it early in the A.M. so that she would not be rushed. It was crucial that the designs be done perfectly.

  At the head of the pentagram was the circle of protection within which she would kneel. It was of paramount importance that the lines be continuous and not disturbed. Just to be safe, she had used white paint to mark them. Several weeks ago she had personally hammered into the cement the rings to which Penny’s body would be bound. At the bottom of the complex design was the circle of power, where the demon would appear. Lucy gazed at it, her heart beating rapidly with anticipation.

  Penelope issued a small moan. There was no time to dally. Lucy quickly released the young girl from the board and slid it out from under her. She undid the buttons to Penny’s flowery lavender and white blouse and drew it off of her shoulders and down her arms. She was wearing a lacy, white bra, a gift from Lucy. It cupped her breasts nicely, drew them up and together in presentation position.

  When the bra was removed, the girl’s chalky white breasts sprung free, swaying enticingly. The skirt was next. It unhooked from behind and Lucy had to turn the girl onto her stomach to get at it. Once the zipper was down, the bright yellow garment slipped off easily, revealing her smooth, plump rear orbs, her soft, alabaster thighs. Penny never wore pantyhose or nylons and all that was left was her white bikini panties with the little pink flowers on them. Lucy hurriedly pulled them down her thighs and over her feet, removing her other leather sandal at the same time.

  She dragged the girl’s body over to the center of the pentagram. She let her lay there for a moment while she went to retrieve the ropes that would bind her to the rings. She came back quickly. Tying her hands together first in front of her, she then connected them to the ring about three feet above her head, stretching her arms out. Next were the ankles. A rope went around each one and then they were drawn back even with her hips and out about two feet. Her knees were raised high and spread widely, revealing her delicately shrouded, virginal pussy. There were rings on either side of her neck and Lucy wound a thick cord around it, tying it off with a square knot so that it wouldn’t close and choke her, and then tied off the ends to the rings.

  When the beast appeared to claim her, Penny would undoubtedly try to push her body away from it with her heels, but the rope around her neck would anchor her firmly in place. There would not be a single iota of a chance that she would be able to forestall her fate.

  Lucy looked at her watch. It was about a quarter after 10. The soporific she had given Penny, it had been in the jasmine tea that Penny so much liked, she had been told when she bought it from a black market supplier, would last about two hours. That gave her only another 45 minutes to complete that part of her preparations without interference or resistance.

  She bounded up the stairs to the kitchen. The implements she would need were all ready in a small wicker basket she had set aside earlier. She went to the kitchen sink and drew hot water into a ceramic bowl. Then, picking up the basket, she brought both the bowl and the basket back downstairs.

  As she knelt next to the bound girl, Lucy felt a pang of remorse. Penny was so pretty,
so innocent. She really had felt a strong affection for her. What she would do now was really crossing the bridge of no return. She still could readorn her victim with her clothes, drag her upstairs and set her down in her bed. She could tell her that she had fainted or something. But once she really went to work on her, there could be no way that she could explain away or justify what she had done.

  Lucy drew a deep breath. She knew that she would not turn back from her resolution. Too much time and effort had been expended in getting this far. She was committed all the way. Poor Penelope was just part of the price she had to pay.

  She took the pair of shiny steel scissors from the basket and immediately began to lop off sheaths of Penny’s beautiful, straw blond hair. She would keep it as it would become a valuable talisman once the girl had been sacrificed. She worked the scissors all around her head until there was only a slight stubble left. Taking hold of a small shaving brush she had purchased for this purpose, she dipped it into the bowl of hot water. She had prepared a coffee cup with a small piece of soap at the bottom and she swirled the brush around inside it until she had worked up a decent lather. After spreading a thin sheen of it over the girl’s head, she proceeded to shave it off with a safety razor, making sure she did not cut her, carefully whispering the incantations the book had taught her.

  When all traces of hair had been removed, she moved to the girl’s loins. She snipped away as much of her pubic hair as she could with the scissors and then shaved the rest off with the razor. She looked down at the girl’s sex. Her hairless pussy made the girl seem somehow even younger and more innocent. She rubbed her hand along the now smooth and bare pudenda and a shiver of lust went through her.