Brother Samuel preached the Gospel wherever he might draw a crowd. He had been traveling from town to town since leaving his home in Philadelphia. As the settlements grew in the Western Territories, his stops grew fewer. Many towns had built churches and hired on preachers, but there were still towns in need of his services.
Sometimes he would take on a follower who stayed with him from town to town. They were usually people that nobody would miss and that suited him just fine. He had picked up one a few weeks back. She was the most beautiful creature that he has ever seen. She had been following him from village to village, as he traveled to deliver his message. She was not the first to do so, nor the first to seek his favor, nor was she likely the last.
As the first words of his sermon brought the crowd to a hush, she slipped silently into the back of the meeting hall and gradually wove her way forward through the crowd. By the last "Amen", she emerged at the front of the crowd, smiling up at him. There was a strange hunger in her brown eyes and a smile on her crimson lips as she stared up at him while swaying with the crowd during the closing hymn.
Her dyed red lips were a sharp contrast to her alabaster skin. Her brown eyes and raven hair further highlighted the paleness of her complexion. There was a sultry air about her and it did not escape the preacher's notice.
This was the eighth town that she had made her presence known to him. She had always hung around after to help straighten up after the sermon. There was always plenty to do - hymnals to collect, donations to count, etc. He had always sent her away afterwards, as he sent away all the others who stayed around to help. Tonight, things would be different.
Raven had her own plans for Brother Samuel. She had packed a picnic and spent the time gabbing about how a man like him needed someone in his life to help him out. Samuel nodded as he ate his beef sandwich. He could not help but notice her heaving chest as she spoke rather animatedly about her wanting to get to know him better. Samuel hoped that she meant in the biblical sense, because that was exactly what he had planned for her.
Raven stood close by while Samuel loaded his packs onto his mules. She was determined not to let him leave without her. Samuel turned to her and smiled. "I suppose you are going to follow me anyways. Why don't you just come along then?" Raven nodded and took the reins of one of the mules while Samuel headed uphill through the woods on a slightly beaten trail.
The journey up the mountain ended some distance from the settlement at a rocky outcropping. The stone, worn smooth by exposure to the rain and wind, lay in the center of a clearing surrounded by wild roses. Their scent overwhelmed the nose and penetrated everything. Even the stone table smelled of roses, no doubt due to the heavy coating of petals covering it.