Excerpt
Clarice wrote of feeling strong hands grab her by the ankles and haul her out from under the shrubs. She wrote of her realization that her gown was dragged up her body revealing her bloomers and half her naked belly and the immediate embarrassment she felt in such an exposed position.
Clear of the shrubs, it took a few minutes before her eyes adjusted to the darkness that surrounded her, again. Once her eyes adjusted, she became aware of two things, the brilliance of the stars in the sky, and the outline of two rather strong looking men looming above her. She spoke saying the only thing that came to her embarrassed, startled mind,
You are trespassing. Get off our property.
She saw a movement and other stars joined those in the sky as a hand crashed on her cheekbone, knocking the girl unconscious.
When Clarice awoke, she was in the basement. She was on her knees, her arms held tightly in the grip of two hideous looking creatures. This served to both support her body and restrict her movements.
Her mother was still secured to the table, the two vapor-like women still secured to the wall. The raven-haired woman that had been bathing her mothers face was standing by Clarice now. As the fog in her mind cleared from the blow she had received moments before, the cacophony from the women chained to the wall was clarified and she could hear their plaintive cries as they moaned over and over.
Take me Master. Use me for your pleasure.
Her mothers noises were moans. Clarice described them in such a way as to identify them, as clearly a product of passion and pleasure, and not like any moans of pain she had ever heard. Her arms were still suspended in midair, her hands still clutching and grabbing at the air above her splayed and bound legs.
The burly men who had drug her from the shrubs and knocked her from consciousness, now held her captive as they supported her kneeling form. They were hideous creatures and not men at all. They appeared the cross between men and horses almost. Their bodies were muscular appearing, and covered with a heavy mat of hair. The hair on their heads hung in a disheveled, unkempt mass around their shoulders. Their chests were bare, but they wore tattered trousers, held in place by a rope belt. Their feet hooved, their hands like the talons of a large bird of prey. Their eyes were huge, easily encompassing the upper half of their faces. Their teeth were an ugly stained gnarled mass in the hideous looking mouths of the creatures faces. One had graying hair, so appeared the older of the two and he spoke.
Master, we found this little one spying in the window.
The older one gestured toward the glass that lined the juncture of the floor above and the wall below, indicating the window Clarice had just been peering through.
A big booming voice that almost caused the walls to shudder and emanated from near where Clarice mother lay strapped obscenely to the table, spoke.
I knew when Gregorio added those windows they would be a problem.
Though Clarice turned to look in that direction, there was no one there except her mother secured helplessly to the tabletop. The woman who had been tending her mother spoke to Clarice.
The Master hates the sunlight. Light is the only substance that can purify and not itself become adulterated in the process.
When Gregorio added the windows to this room design, the Master was displeased but it was too late. Gregorio explained mans building codes wouldnt allow the chamber without windows. But the Master still disapproves of the light.
Clarice recalled the architects name had been Gregory. That must be Gregorio.
Clarice couldnt understand why the raven-haired woman was seemingly taking her into her confidence, but wished she hadnt, for her breath smelled the foulest Clarice had ever smelled. It smelled of rotting flesh and all manner of fetid odor. When she spoke, a fine mist discharged from her mouth, like a breath fog on a cold day in winter.
She spoke to the ogre-like creatures that held Clarice captive,
You have done well my children.
As Haley continued to read of the accounts of this horrific event, Clarice had so eloquently portrayed in her words, it became clear, to Haley at least, why the raven-haired woman had taken Clarice into her confidence.
When the Master comes for you and you accept his companionship, you too will grow to hate the light. Then he will become visible to you. The womans words were interrupted when the older ogre-looking creature spoke.
Master, may we use her for our pleasure?
The response was immediate and stern.
NO! She must remain pure until she gives herself to me. I must have a virgin to procreate a son, to carry on when I am gone or to create havoc elsewhere in the world. Only a virgin can procreate with me a son and not a creature such as you. She is not to be touched. Return her to the outside world. She must come to me of her own desire or be delivered to me by her mother. If you must sate the lust of your loins, use one of the concubine women.
The voice must have been referencing the women chained and suspended from the wall, for the one who had spoken turned a glance in their direction.
Thank you Master, but the concubine women are never as satisfying as real flesh and blood women.
Clarice was struck again across the cheekbone and again stars filled the night sky in her mind.
When she awoke, Clarice was in her bed, and the sun shone brightly through her bedroom window. She would have thought the previous night a dream had it not been for the tender bruise on her cheekbone and the dirt ground into her gown as she was dragged from the shrubs.
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