A Priestess of Isis

This story talks about sex and religion. There will be some rough sex and elements of BDSM, so if you are looking for romance, this is not the story for you. Also, if you harbor any thoughts about the sanctity of religion, then please move along because I will surely offend you. Otherwise, I present to you Chapter 4 of A Priestess of Isis.

"It is a self-deception of philosophers and moralists to imagine that they escape decadence by opposing it. That is beyond their will; and, however little they acknowledge it, one later discovers that they were among the most powerful promoters of decadence."

― Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power

"You should go."

"You want me to leave you here all alone."

"Yes. Leave. Please." I said the words coldly and flatly.

She sighed. "Okay, lover," she said with a smirk. "If that is what you want."

Mary stood, pulled the curtain around my bed again, and quickly poked her head back in.

"Give me a little kiss," she said.

"Get out," I said irritably.

"Close your eyes will. This can get a little rough if you're not used to it."

The room had become unbearably hot and dry, and somehow through my closed eyelids, the light had become brighter.

"Open your eyes, Wil," she said.

I did and was immediately greeted by the sun shining in my eyes.

"Don't look into the sun, Wil," she laughed.

I shifted my eyes and blinked, trying to focus them. A dry landscape of rocks and sand greeted them.

"What did you do? Where are we?"

She smiled, and I noticed her clothing was vastly different. Instead of her skin-tight black dress, she wore a blue linen shift that went to the ground. She wore a long white cloth like a veil on her head and shoulders. Her bright-colored makeup was gone.

"Come along," she said. "There is someone I'd like you to meet."

Now I noticed I was sitting on a dusty road. Down the road, I saw a group of people approach, and Mary stood in the middle of the road as if waiting for them.

It was a ragtag group of men, dusty from their travels, looking worn and parched. As they grew closer, I could see more detail. One man stood at the front. He wore a gray linen shift, much like Mary's, and a gray linen cloak. He wore his dark hair pulled back with the curls of a Hasidic Jew on either side of his face. Unlike the others, he looked carefree and happy.

As they grew close, Mary bowed.

"It is good to see you, Rabbi."

The man smiled broader if that was at all possible.

"Mary? Mary! Blessed be our Father in heaven. Where have you been?"

"Doing your work, Rabbi," she said, "gathering people unto you. Here, Rabbi, this is Wil. He has heard of all your works and is a great believer in you."

"I am the bread of life," the man said. "And whoever comes to me will not go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

"Yes, Rabbi," said Mary with an indulgent smile. "Though it is I that brings you food and drink this day. Come."

Mary led the men off the side of the road to a blanket spread under a small tree. Flatbread and hummus in individual bowls, and a wineskin sat on the blanket.

There was another bowl of water in which several cloths floated. She wrung out one and, on her knee, handed one to the rabbi. He took it with a smile.

"Woman, will you wash my feet too?" he said after wiping his face and hands.

The men in the group started muttering, and I gathered that they didn't like Mary much.

"Yeshua," said one man. He was tall and broad-shouldered, and he gave a disapproving glance at Mary. "Should a woman not your wife attend you like she is?"

"The one who commits adultery," started Yeshua, "with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself does it. Wounds and disgrace he will find, and his reproach will not be blotted out."

The men murmured this agreement from this quote from Proverbs.

"But," continued Yeshua, "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." It was another quote from Proverbs, this time 31:26. "There is no profane thing in this devotion from this priestess of another land. You do not like her because of her goddess, but I tell you, it is Leviathan that spreads this lie, seeking disputes to separate those that would join in common purpose. Remember this in the days to come, because those who oppose Leviathan are legion, but they may wear different cloaks than you. Should you then despise them, and say they are evil? Then you give Leviathan the victory over this world, and the work of the Father is lost among petty divisions."

"Hear me," said Yeshua. "The kingdom of the Father is like a certain woman. She took a little leaven, concealed it in some dough, and made it into large loaves. Likewise, the kingdom of the father is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking on the road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the road. She did not realize it; she had noticed no accident. When she reached her house, she set the jar down and found it empty."

"Rabbi," said another man, "What are the meaning of these words?"

Yeshua threw up his hands dramatically. "Let him who has ears hear."

"Rabbi," said Simon with a scowl, "this woman is a whore."

Yeshua gazed at Simon with a beatific expression as Mary wiped his feet clean.

"Simon, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but there is no disfavor here in the eyes of our Father. There is but only one thing is important. Mary has chosen to walk with me, which will not be taken away from her."

A scowl formed on Simon's face, and he crossed his arms and sunk to the ground. I scanned my knowledge of adultery from the bible, and Yeshua was right. Even if this Yeshua were married, if he had relations with an unmarried woman, it would not be considered adultery. A married woman would be stoned, but an unmarried woman would simply be reviled and considered a whore.

Simon's face was incredulous, and he took a piece of the flatbread and tore it.

"Should you not say the blessing, brother," said Yeshua, "and give thanks to our Father for this provision?"

"You give thanks, Rabbi," said Simon sourly, tossing the bread back into the bowl. "I have lost my appetite."

Yeshua smiled and picked up the bread.

BA-RUCH A-TAH A-DO-NOI

ELO-HAI-NU ME-LECH HA-O-LAM

HA-MO-TZI LE-CHEM MIN HA-A-RETZ

My Hebrew wasn't the best, but I knew this prayer. "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth."

He tore the flatbread in parts and set them in the bowl. Mary smiled indulgently at Yeshua and handed him the bowl with hummus.

BA-RUCH A-TAH A-DO-NOI

ELO-HAI-NU ME-LECH HA-O-LAM

BO-RAI PRI HA-A-DA-MAH.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the

Universe, Who creates the fruit of the earth.

And then Mary proffered the wineskin to him.

BA-RUCH A-TAH A-DO-NOI

ELO-HAI-NU ME-LECH HA-O-LAM

BO-RAI PRI HA-AITZ

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the

Universe, Who creates the fruit of the tree.

"Should we not," grumbled Simon, "be reciting the blessing for the wine first since this is the beginning of the Sabbath? Are we not supposed to be making the Sabbath holy?"

Yeshua raised his head and gazed into Simon's eyes and I heard muttering around me.

"For God's sake, Simon," someone said.

"Please, Simon," one man said as a plea.

"You are right," said Yeshua. "I misspoke the order of the blessings. For it is you and all our fellows that I should give thanks first. These are all defiled now and not fit for my good disciples."

"Oh, dear Lord," another muttered.

Yeshua stood suddenly and grabbed the bowl of bread and flung it with a great swing of his arms.

"Please, rabbi," called one.

But Yeshua wasn't listening. He grabbed the hummus and sent it the same trajectory, and then laid hands on the wineskin.

"Please, not the wine," muttered one of the group.

Yeshua clutched the wineskin to his breast and did a little dance rocking back and forth on his feet.

"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. For the lies of Leviathan are many, and we do not know day from night. Repent!"

And with these last words, Yeshua flung the wineskin into the field and the men around me hung their heads.

"Rabbi," said Mary gently. "I must depart once more."

"Will you not stay," he said. "And partake of the bread of life?" He gave her a wink, then glanced at his crotch.

"This is sin!" sputtered Simon.

Yeshua glared at Simon.

"And what do you know of sin, Simon Peter, who has done no wrong throughout your life?"

Yeshua spoke with a sarcastic edge to his words. "When you make the two one, and when you make the inner and the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, then shall you enter the Kingdom of my Father."

Simon glared at him. "So defiling yourself with this woman is an act of redemption?" He made a noise of disgust, "Since you have explained everything to us so well, tell us. What is the sin of the world?"

Yeshua scoffed.

"There is no sin. It is you who make sin exist, when you act according to the habits of your corrupted nature. This is where sin lies. But if you feel the need to cleanse yourself, get thee to the nearest stream and wash yourself in its waters until your dick shrivels and will not serve your wife this night. Tell me how that is righteous."

The men in the group groaned, and Simon huffed and turned his back to Yeshua. Mary put her hand on Yeshua's shoulder.

"I will return at the appointed hour, Rabbi."

"Of course, you will, dear Mary."

Yeshua turned a beatific gaze toward me. "Shall you stay, Wil? Come sit with me."

"No," said Mary firmly. "I'm taking him home."

"Oh," said Yeshua with disappointment. "Jude, some sit with me."

"Yes, Rabbi," said a young man who couldn't be more than in his middle teens. He easily sat next to the rabbi and laid his head on Yeti's breast.

"Simon," said Yeshua. "The men are hungry. Go gather food for them."

"We have no money to purchase from the market," grumbled Simon.

"Nonsense. Judas?"

"Sorry, rabbi," said Judas apologetically.

Yeshua jerked his head toward Mary.

"Receive from the woman, Judas."

Judas bent his head as Mary moved to him and drew from within her robes a leather wallet with the Chanel logo on it.

I groaned. Mary gave me a disparaging glance before she handed Judas a large handful of coin then bent forward and kissed his cheek.

"Father in heaven," groaned Simon.

"Simon," said another man in a chiding voice.

"What troubles you, Levi?" growled Simon.

"Peter, you have always been hot tempered. Now you contend against the woman like as if she's an adversary. She has succored all of us with her generosity many times."

"The coin of a foreign land," scoffed Peter. "From the temple of idolators."

"If the rabbi made her worthy, who are you to reject her?" said Levi.

Yeshua stepped forward.

"My brothers, attachment to matter gives rise to passion against nature. Thus trouble arises in the whole body. This is why I tell you, be in harmony with all around you."

He fisted a handful of dirt, and let it fall from his hands and a light breeze blew and scattered it.

"You are the same as each grain of sand. There is no difference between you and the spark of the divine nature that enlivens it. Or you."

"But it is dust," said Simon. "It has no nature."

"Simon, Simon, you always insist on seeing outward forms as truth, when it what's within that bears witness to the reality of the world. All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots."

Simon scoffed, crossed his arms, and stared at Yeshua. "Did not Moses carry the laws of God to our people to tell us how to live? Did not Joshua say 'you will not mingle with those nations that remain among you, nor mention the name of their gods, nor make oaths by them, nor serve them, nor worship them?'" He rudely pointed at Mary and sneered. "That woman is a foreigner and an idolator, and yet you receive money and other gifts from her as if she were not a viper poisoning us with her lies."

Yeshua bent again and grabbed another hand of sand and smiling broadly tossed it. But a breeze caught it, and it swirled around the two men. Simon coughed and vainly tried to bat the sand away.

"See, how easily the tiniest pieces of offal engage us?" Yeshua said, not at all perturbed by the dust that surrounded Simon and him. "It is because we are all the same stuff, my beloved, stubborn, faithful student. Hear me. If you are out of balance, take inspiration from manifestations of your true nature."

I stared dumbfounded at the scene watching Yeshua issue a simple lesson on universal mechanics. These men, who lived more than two thousand years prior to me, could know nothing of quantum mechanics, but here Yeshua demonstrated the concept with a handful of dirt.

Yeshua turned his head toward me and stared at me with impossibly wise, compassionate eyes. "Let he who has ears to hear, hear."

A shiver ran through me as if his words were addressed only to me. I was caught in that madman's gaze, unable to break free, mesmerized, as this man's disciplines must have been, by his sheer charisma.

Mary smiled broadly as if everything was perfectly normal. She held her hand out to me.

"Come, Wil."

Reluctantly I took her hand, and the scene around me melted into mist. I could see nothing in any direction by wispy tendrils that curled around my body. Mary now wore the black dress with a red belt again. Crimson gloves now covered her hands.

"What did you think?" said Mary. Her all-too-red lips smiled slightly parted, seductive without trying, and pornographic thoughts poured into my brain.

"About what?"

"Your Jesus."

"That was not my Jesus," I declared.

"Exactly," she said with a wide smile.

"That was a degenerate madman, with the charisma of a cult leader."

"Hmmm, harsh much?"

"That was not my Jesus," I said with emphasis.

Mary nodded. "I agree. Your faith was crafted by politicians wearing priestly garb to wrest the wealth of the people into their coffers. What they did had nothing to do with the man you met back there. That's why the politicians had to excise most of the truth from many of the scriptures of the early church."

I bit my lip. I knew certain early books had been banned by early church fathers, but for heresy within those messages.

"Now that you see the truth, can you not put aside the nonsense in your head?"

"Get thee gone, Satan," I snapped.

Mary gave me a crooked smile.

"As you wish," she said. And she snapped her fingers.

And now, we stood in the mansion again, only it was the mansion of the previous night just inside the library with oriental carpets on the marble floors, dark wood gleaming under the glow of the fireplace, and the furniture rising as specters the shadows of hearth's flames.

"Why are we here, again?" I demanded. "I told you to get gone."

Mary peered at me with her caramel eyes and held a red-tipped nail under my chin. I got the impression that if she so chose she could slice my jugular with that nail and I'd be dead within seconds as crimson blood flowed from my neck.

I shuddered.

Her eyes held a feral gleam as she gazed at me. "I did 'get gone.' You happened to come with me." She sighed. "It seems, dear Will, that we are hopelessly entangled and must see this through to the end."

"See what through?" I said. A suspicion crawled into my brain that I was about to receive the bad end of this madwoman's insane ideas.

Mary grabbed both sides of my button down, and pulled the shirt apart as its buttons flew and clattered on the marble floors, then yanked the shirt off my shoulders and halfway down my arms holding them in place.

"Hey," I protested.

She shook her head and a bemused smile formed like frost spreading on a window.

"You think you don't consent to this?" she said. "Wil, how sadly you lack understanding of your inner nature."

She threw a delicate arm around my neck and drew my head down toward he sinfully luscious lips. Mine hovered above hers, like a sinner waiting for entrance into hell, trembling and filled with trepidation.

"Tell me you don't want this? she said.

"I don't," I snarled.

She sighed and relaxed her grip.

"You will deny me three times," she said. "That's one."

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about," I spit.

A little mewl escaped her throat. "That's two."

"Fuck, let me go, Mary."

She tilted her head and peered at me with something like hope and expectation.

"That's three, Wil. And there you go talking about fucking again. Oh, if you only knew what you truly desired. What might be possible then?"

Mary held four knife-sharp fingertips to my throat then, and I gulped. She patted my crotch and smiled at my traitorous, thickening cock.

"It seems your body knows what it wants, Wil," she said in a mocking voice. "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires."

"What?" I said incredulously. "You are quoting John to me?"

She shrugged. "If the Bible verse fits..."

"It most certainly does not."

"Hmph." She leaned forward and licked the tip of one nipple, and fire shot up my spine. Then she took the nub and sucked it into her mouth, and lashed it with her tongue. My knees weakened and I fell against her body. And when she applied suction, I almost fell over but for the fact she pushed me against the door. My breathing stuttered. Who knew my nipples were this sensitive. I never did. It seemed wrong somehow to pay attention to the part of the body that was so sexualized in women.

"Oh, God," I muttered.

"Hmm," she said as she applied her attention to the other. My bound arms flailed trying to reach for anything to grab onto because I was in free fall. My mind flashed on a hundred pornographic images of what I'd do to Mary if I could get my hands free.

"Do you really want me to stop?"

"No," I groaned miserably. God help me, I didn't. It all felt too good and now my cock strained against my slacks throbbing and begging for relief.

"As you wish," she said.

She bent and pulled open my belt buckle then yanked away my belt with a smooth slide.

"Hmm," she said wickedly. "You are all buttoned and zippered up." She ran the tip of one nail along the tip along my clothed and fattened cock and I sucked in a breath. "Isn't it time to change that, Will?"

I swallowed hard. "Yes," I breathed unable to stop myself.

One hand deftly unbuttoned my pants button and unzipped my pants and then she yanked them and my underpants down, and my cock sprang free and rampant.

"That's what I like to see. A man at the ready." Mary said as she applied that same nail to the underside of my cock. I sucked in a sharp breath as a smattering of pain traveled along its length to some part of my brain besotted with the sensation.

Then Mary whirled me around with the strength a woman of her size should not possess and pressed my face into the door. "Oh, shit," I said as my cock touched the unforgiving door, and she used the shirt to pull my hands behind my back and used it to tie them together. Then she pulled me backward, and to stay upright, I had to comply. She whipped me around again and with one hand firmly holding my neck and reached for my swollen balls from behind and grabbed them telegraphing she was in firm control of my body.

"Walk," she ordered. She squeezed my balls , making me gasp, to punctuate her command.

With a shuffle, I moved forward, with Mary rhythmically squeezing my gems until I could no longer think or see straight.