Paranormal Research Club

I am classifying this chapter as Group Sex, but there are also elements resembling mind-control, and there is incestuous lesbian sex involved as well. This is part of a series that is largely built around incestuous themes.

All persons, places, and situations are entirely fictional. All sexually active characters are 18 years of age or older. All rights reserved.

*

As Cardinal Imamu turned the key in the ignition of the glossy black rental car, the radio came on.

A serious-sounding newscaster was speaking in a grave tone and doing a valiant job of trying to keep her composure despite clearly being overwhelmed by the subject matter on which she was reporting. "...the president's speech this morning, in which he condemned the attack as an unprovoked act of war and promised a swift response, vowing that all persons or nations involved will be made to pay dearly for their actions. Excuse me. We will be back to that story in just a minute, we are receiving reports of yet another deadly attack on a separate American military base in the region occurring even as we speak, with intense fighting being reported as ongoing at this time. We are receiving reports of substantial loss of life on on both sides. Our analysts now believe that this is very clearly a large-scale and well-planned conventional military assault against American and allied troops in the region. Reports are coming in of the attackers using both fighter and bomber planes, tanks, and artillery. Sources have confirmed that both American and British warships have already been dispatched to the region. The United Nations has convened an Emergency Special Session of the General Assembly, and Congress is expected to vote on a formal declaration of war as soon-"

Cardinal Imamu abruptly turned off the radio. His face was troubled. "Wars and rumors of wars. With the Apple of Eris missing, it is probably best if we don't listen to the news for now. We have enough to deal with on our own without worrying about what is going on elsewhere in the world. We need to stay focused on our own mission."

I glared at the elderly African, but said nothing. I knew that Cardinal Imamu was correct, but the soldier in me still felt duty-bound to know as much as I could about what was obviously a dire situation that was developing somewhere in the world. I still had plenty of family and friends in the military, and there was a war breaking out? With whom were we going to war? None of this had been going on only a day ago! A million questions rushed through my mind. The last several days seemed entirely surreal.

"I can't believe that I'm in charge of the Order now," said Father David, shaking his head. His eyes were sad, far away. He looked exhausted and shell-shocked.

"I know that this is hard on you, old friend. You should pray, meditate, and center yourself. Perhaps you can pray for peace in the world and for your own inner peace. If you are worried about the Marines, then pray for them so that you can have peace on the issue knowing that you have done all you can do for now. It won't do for you to appear at an exorcism as rattled as you are now, but God wouldn't have put you here if you couldn't handle it." Cardinal Imamu admonished softly.

"God didn't put me here. A crazy pagan goddess did. And I've seen lots of people put in situations they couldn't handle before. I've seen them crack under pressure, and I've seen good people die as a result. I've seen lots of people die over the years," mused Father David, his voice grim and as bitter as burnt cordite. As a fellow veteran, the news about a potential war would probably be hitting Father David pretty hard, just as it did me. Wars bring back bad memories to those of us that have lived them. But Father David was trying to stay focused and faithful to his current mission. Everything not directly related to his immediate mission of the exorcism had to be put from his mind, and he understood that, but I doubt that he was being any more successful at his efforts than I would have been.

Cardinal Imamu was silent for a long time, his dark eyes remaining serene. "You need to have faith, my friend. You are a priest, and a man of God. You must trust that God called you to be here, even at moments when it is hard not to doubt your calling. You must trust that God has prepared you for this. Trust that Christ goes before us and walks beside us. We are going to an exorcism now. Your faith will need to shield you there. Demons will try to twist or pervert your kind heart and your faith, and they will play upon your fear and anger. Put on the full armor of God. You must be strong and trust that God is strong."

"I pray to God that this goes smoothly with the two of us," said Father David, but his voice sounded more tense than prayerful. Something horrible was clearly eating at the faithful man of God from the inside. I could see his face reflected in the rear view mirror.

I wanted to reassure him. "It will go smoothly for you. Ishtar herself promised me that the demons would be trapped during the exorcism. She has a plan for dealing with them later in a manner that won't endanger either of you."

Father David gave me an exasperated look in the rear-view mirror, and when he spoke his tone sounded cold. "I hope you're right. But, just so you know, demons frequently disguise themselves as angels or other beings that you're likely to trust. Would you do something that was suggested to you by some hideous beast that looked like a monster out of a comic-book? No. Neither would any other sane human being, and demons are more than clever enough to know that. They're far older, more experienced, and far, far more intelligent than any mortal you've ever met. Maybe you're right, John. Maybe an ancient pagan goddess really is going to help a couple of Christian priests out here, and maybe she really visited you to tell you all about it. But maybe a demon pretending to be a goddess is trying to get us to go in with our guard down so that she can suck our souls out, kill us, torment our disembodied consciousnesses until we reveal the information they need to steal every goddamn relic our Orders are protecting, plunge the whole goddamned world into chaos for the rest of eternity, and then for good measure continue tormenting a family of good people that we would have been able to save from them if we had kept or focus."

Cardinal Imamu gave his friend a worried glance before returning his eyes to the road, and he appeared to be carefully pondering a response to Father David's outburst.

Instinctively, I felt a strong impulse to defend Ishtar from what the priest was saying, but I knew that he was correct. I held my peace, and the car was silent for several minutes. It was all far too much to take in. From Father David's perspective, what he had been told wasn't enough of the story to make sense. My plans to fuck at least two succubi into oblivion, and perhaps rescue two more from eternal slavery, were probably not wise to share with two priests. I suspected that Cardinal Imamu knew more of what I was thinking than he had been willing to admit, but I still felt uncomfortable with sharing my plans with him. In particular, I didn't wish to mention the fact that I was probably also going to have sex with the four women in the family that we were planning to help.

Finally, Cardinal Imamu spoke. His naturally peaceful, soothing voice with its soft African accent seemed to almost magically drain tension from the inside of the car. "David, perhaps you should spend a few minutes centering yourself and praying quietly?"

Father David took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and penitent. "John, I'm sorry to have taken that tone with you. We're all under a lot of pressure here. I know that includes you. You've been a good friend to Erin over the years, and I don't mean any disrespect to you."

I accepted his gracious apology. "Don't worry about it. I understand that you've got a lot on your plate, and I probably did sound a bit silly."

For several minutes, Father David sat in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, breathing deeply. His lips moved silently, as if in prayer. Reading his lips, I could almost make out the words of the 23rd Psalm.

Cardinal Imamu glanced in the rear view mirror, his eyes meeting mine. "We should let Father David pray and meditate upon God's word for now. But I do have a favor to ask of you. When you return to college, would you mind helping Father David's sister, Glenda, look after Bishop Frank? The Bishop is likely to not be doing well, and he will need someone to help him around for a bit."

"Who is Glenda?" I asked.

Father David opened his eyes and regarded at me with surprise. When he spoke, his voice sounded calm and focused. "My sister, Glenda Morrison. Your English professor and the lady in charge of your Paranormal Research Club. I'm sorry, I would have expected that Erin would have told you that Professor Morrison was her aunt. Glenda's last name is different from ours because she kept her second husband's last name after he died."

"I had no idea she was Erin's aunt," I said. I suddenly knew how such a devoutly religious young lady had gotten mixed up in our little club. Yes, Professor Morrison had always seemed to like Erin, but I couldn't think of anyone that didn't like Erin. "Yes, I'll help Professor Morrison with anything she needs. I've always really liked her."

Father David raised an eyebrow at me, but said nothing. The look implied that I might not have a complete understanding of what I had just volunteered for. Perhaps he had some unspoken reservations about a man wearing the magical Armlet of Acratophorus helping his sister with "anything she needs". He smiled as though amused by some inward joke before closing his eyes serenely and beginning to pray again.

We crested a hill and descended into a low valley, and from a quarter mile away I could see that there was only one more house on the road. The white wooden farmhouse with its rusted tin roof sat alone in a large lawn that was overgrown with weeds. Across the driveway from the house, yellow police tape cordoned off the skeletal ruins of an ancient wooden barn. The walls of the rotting structure were in such poor repair that they would have afforded little privacy for the unhappy man's final act. It was little wonder that he had been discovered by his family so soon after killing himself.

I sadly shook my head as I looked at the grim-looking little white farmhouse. Something unspeakable was lurking behind those walls, and I was going to have to face these demons alone after the priests left. Maybe some residual part of their blessing would help me, I thought. But then I pushed the idea from my mind. Ishtar knew that the demons would have to be at the peak of their power to give Dionysus enough energy to revive him. I was overcome with sympathy for the family that lived here, and felt disgusted by the monsters that had driven the hapless man to kill himself in hopes that his family would be spared. What manner of pitiless beast would continue to torment a grieving family like this?

We parked our black rental car beside three other cars and a battered old pickup truck that had probably once belonged to the late man of the house. Father David regarded the vehicles for a long moment before speaking. "Two of those cars aren't usually here. They've got visitors."

Cardinal Imamu looked at the vehicles for a long moment. "Perhaps the visitors should wait outside while we do the blessing. By the way, David, are any people from your church going to be coming out to help the family maintain the house and cut the grass?" he asked as he dismounted the car. He took his walking stick with him, and a small, heavy-looking satchel of cracked and tattered black leather.

Father David shook his head. "I've got about five guys in our church Care Committee that I think would be happy to help, but I'm waiting until the demon or demons are gone before I schedule anything. They're good people that don't need to risk being attacked by succubi." He paused and took a deep breath as though trying to steel himself against the ordeal to come, both exhaustion and grim determination evident in his weary, courageous eyes.

"You look worried," Cardinal Imamu said to Father David as he reached into his satchel and retrieved a small bottle of dark, blood-red liquid and a round communion wafer. "Here. We should take a moment to pray together. Did you bring your own communion? Good. I'm sorry, I truly do wish that we could share. Taking communion by myself has always felt a bit silly to me. John, could you please wait by the car? You'll be safer there, and we need a bit of privacy to pray."

I nodded and began returning to the vehicle as Cardinal Imamu began reciting First Peter 5:8. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The talk of roaring lions sounded somehow different coming from an elderly African. His lilting voice faded into indistinct consonants as I approached the car to afford the men their privacy.

The two ministers knealt beside a low wall of crumbling stone that was probably a relic of some previous century. I stood and watched them as they offered up their quiet, fervent prayers. Cardinal Imamu's calm, dark, wrinkled face bobbed silently as he prayed. Beside him, Father David's face looked bloodless and exhausted but filled with dogged strength and determination that seemed to grow stronger as the pair of holy men beseeched God for help and protection. I wondered if an Episcopalian and a Roman Catholic had ever collaborated on an exorcism before today. Finishing their prayers, the two holy men embraced as dear friends before striding boldly toward the door of the house together. Father David knocked, and the door was opened to him.

The old wooden barn where the father of the family had committed suicide was across the driveway from the house. A bit further down the gravel road that served as the driveway, there was a large prefabricated green and off-white sheet metal storage building that still looked like it was in reasonably good repair.

I walked slowly towards the old wooden barn. I would probably have plenty of time to kill while waiting on the priests to leave. An unseasonably cool wind cut through the otherwise hot air and I shuddered as I looked through a large hole in the barn's rotten wooden walls. The dark old wood was cracked and crumbling, and even where the metal sheets still clung to the roof there were numerous holes rusted through the antique metal. On the far end, the remains of a broken wooden door were swinging slowly with the breeze, occasionally banging shut with a dry, rattling sound. The place spoke of pain and hopelessness.

Behind me, I heard a door open and two female voices talking together quietly and indistinctly as they approached me from behind. I turned to see two girls in their late teens or early twenties.

"Hey, there," said a pretty redhead in her early twenties. Her attractive face was framed by auburn hair that had been pulled back into a neat ponytail. She was nicely dressed in a skirt and blouse. With her was a slender girl of similar age, or perhaps a bit younger, with Asian features and thick glasses. The second girl was kind of cute in an innocent and sort of nerdy way. She was wearing flip-flop sandals, loose, comfortable pants, and a purple t-shirt that advertized a local high-school's marching band in bold, blue letters.

"I'm Amy, and this is Wendy," the redhead said as she introduced herself and her friend. "Since we don't live here, the priests told us that we didn't need to be inside for the exorcism and we would be safer outside. We were just heading over to play a game of pool in the storage building, if you want to join us."

"I would love to," I replied without hesitation. I've always enjoyed playing pool, and having some people to talk to would make time pass more quickly while I waited for the priests to finish their work.

As we walked towards the prefabricated metal building, the pretty redhead talked. "I came home from college to be with my family after... after we lost Dad. Mom and my sisters have had a rough time of it in recent years. Wendy here goes to high-school with my younger sisters, Cassandra and Tina. They've been friends with her since they were kids. Ever since all this stuff started happening, hardly anyone but Wendy will talk with anyone that lives here. Especially guys. Mom, Tina, and Cassie are all still inside so that the priests can say blessings over them. Again." She sighed and shook her head. "If you're here with the priests, then you know about the exorcism, right? God, I can't believe this is happening to my own family! It's like something out of a bad horror movie. I still can't believe that Dad is..." Her voice cracked and trailed off and she shook her head and fought to keep her composure. This was an old New England family that clearly believed in stoicism in the face of adversity. Wendy moved to put an arm around Amy, but Amy gently refused. "Anyhow, the priests told us that we're supposed to wait outside until the exorcism is over. Based on what I've heard about Father David's previous attempts, that's probably a good idea. How long do you think it will take?"

"I have no idea," I said truthfully. "I'm just a friend of the younger priest's daughter, and I'm along for the ride."

"Cool," said Wendy shyly. She was cute, especially her innocent-looking brown eyes and her pretty round face. Still, she was probably too reserved to get much attention from guys. "I didn't think that priests were allowed to have families."

"Episcopalians allow our priests to get married and have kids. That's what Father David and my family are," said Amy to her friend. She turned to me. "Do they think that our family is going to be OK? Mom is starting to think that maybe the priests won't be able to help us."

"I have a feeling that your family will be just fine," I said. Clearly, it wouldn't do to discuss my plans for the succubi with two strangers. "Neither of the priests have told me anything much on the case, but Father David mentioned that it's been pretty rough. Even so, I've got a feeling that your problems will probably be gone for good after today."

"I don't even know what to believe," Amy said. She stopped outside of the metal building as she reached into her purse and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She laughed humorlessly. "I had quit smoking before all of this shit happened. None of this was going on back before I left for college. Mom has been talking about some crazy stuff going on in that house lately. She told me that last night she actually saw something literally pick up Father David, fucking throw him against the wall, and he actually looked like there were invisible fingers choking him! Like, she actually said that she could see the imprint of a fucking hand with claws squeezing his throat, but there was nothing there doing it! Scary stuff." She gave me an appraising look as she raised the cigarette to her lips and lit it. "The other priest, the old African guy with the red hat, told us to stay away from you. What's up with that? You're not dangerous, are you?" she asked with a forced smile that indicated that she was teasing. Wendy chuckled.

I shrugged. "If you're here to visit your family in a house with a demon that throws people against walls and strangles them, then I suppose that I'm relatively safe by comparison."

Amy chuckled sadly. She had a naturally bubbly personality, but I could tell that it was taking effort for her to keep up her spirited facade. She was worried about her family, and the suicide of a parent is a terrible thing for anyone to experience. "I didn't think that you looked like an axe murderer or anything. After some of the boys I've dated, I'm pretty good at picking those guys out. Now I just need to learn how to stop letting them take me out for drinks." She smiled at her own joke.