The Chardon Chronicles: Season One -- The Harvest Festival (31 page)

“Whoa! Sounds heavy. Well, what if something
happens to me?” She asked nonchalantly.

“I’ll move heaven and earth, Hon.” He said.
“But… I don’t think anything weird will happen. It is a church
after all. What, maybe some singing? Cookies?”

“Hailing Satan?” she laughed.

Chloe drove the car down to the Hall. The
front doors were closed, but several cars were in the driveway.
Chloe parked on the street and put the keys on the tire. Keith
opened the glove compartment and showed her the gun. She winked
conspicuously and they walked toward the side doors.

Keith noticed Judge Ralph and Sheriff Chuck.
They were talking with Reichstaff. “Oh that’s interesting…” he said
out loud.

“What is?” Chloe asked.

“I’ll tell you later, get in character. Mz.
Vandevaal.” Let me take your picture. He snapped photos of the
church and the Sheriff and Ralph.

They started up the steps into the building.
It was dark inside. The interior was stone with old hand-hewn
rafters and simple bench like pews. Keith couldn’t see the altar.
Several people were inside, but it was too dim to make out any
faces. A muscular man in a sport coat stopped them and said,
“There’s a reception in the garden for aspirants.”

“That’s us, I guess.” Keith forced a smile.
His mouth went a little dry.

Chloe took a step toward the back of the
building. Reichstaff trotted down the stairs. “Mr. Vandevaal?”

Keith smiled, “Yes, and this is my daughter
Chloe.”

Reichstaff nodded and looked her up and down.
He backed up a step to take her all in. Chloe was about 5’ 9” and
feminine, but her arms and legs were taut and powerful. Her black
hair was shoulder length, and she’d curled it for the occasion, but
she usually wore it straight. Her eyes were dark brown and fiery
and expressive. Reichstaff nodded curtly and beckoned Chloe, “She
should come with me and meet the others.”

Chloe slightly raised her eyebrow and looked
at her father. Keith hesitated a moment, then nodded. Chloe said,
“Pleased to meet you…”

Reichstaff looked at her and motioned toward
the door. After they went inside, Keith wandered around to the
back. Several people were gathered there, a few men about his age
were standing together and were obviously new. The other families
disregarded them and chatted and laughed.

A waiter approached them. He was a tall thin
man in his twenties. His long hair was slicked back and pulled into
a tight ponytail.

“Here,” the waiter said, “You must drink
these.” he handed each of the new men a glass. One of the glasses
had been set aside for Keith. “Here you drink this one.”

Keith sniffed the wine. It was a dark red
pinot noir. He swirled it in the glass and held it up to the sun.
He sipped it.

“No, they said
drink
.” The other men
drained their glass. Keith waited a few seconds then drank it, too.
They put the glasses back on the tray.

“That was odd.” he said to the others. They
smiled nervously.

One of the men laughed, “Reminds me of a frat
initiation. They just tell you what to do, and you do it.”

“Have you been here before?” Keith asked.

“This is our fourth time.” He nodded.

“You here with your family?”

“Yeah, my wife’s in the congregation already.
Guess her blood’s bluer than mine. My daughter’s inside with the
other girls.”

Keith’s lips started to go numb. “Wow, that’s
weird.” he said and smacked them together. “Holy shit, that was
strong, I guess.” he took a step, then collapsed to the ground. The
other new men rolled him onto his back.

“Is there a doctor?!” one of them called
out.

The burly guard at the door walked back,
“Leave him.” he waved them off. He hoisted Keith off the ground and
threw him in the Austin Healey. He put a note on his chest. It
said, “don’t call us again. We will notify you.”

Chloe was led into the building. She glimpsed
a simple stone altar in the front of the pews. A coffin was sitting
on top of the altar. There was a black pole mounted in the stone
floor a few feet beyond the coffin. An articulated bronze snake
sculpture was mounted to the pole. The room was full of men in dark
suits, women in dark dresses, and a girl in a white gown who was
the center of attention.

“Follow.” Reichstaff pointed at Chloe, “Go
down the stairs.”

She followed a few men down into the basement
of the building. It was dimly lit from small copper sconces mounted
to the walls.

“Creepy…” she whispered. The men went into a
room where five other girls were sitting on a couple of couches.
The girls were all wearing red dresses, too. They were nervous, but
attentive. One of the men closed the door behind her, and high
school aged boy dressed all in black gave her a white rose.

She sat next to a pretty blonde girl who had
her hair up in an elaborate style. “Oh I love that!” Chloe said.
The girl smiled nervously. She had big blue eyes, and full pouty
lips. Her face was soft and feminine and more childlike than
womanly.

One of the men walked to a table in the
center of the room. He wore a sport coat with leather elbow
patches, a black turtleneck, and tweed pants. The man was a little
older than her father, but was remarkably fit and healthy. His hair
was thick, black and slicked back away from his shiny forehead. He
knelt one knee on a table and leaned back in a studied pose.

“Girls, young women, please stand.” he
gestured to them. The girls all got up from the couches. He smiled
and gestured around the room. “It’s like a bouquet,” he said in a
voice fit for a theater. “It even smells flowery.” He breathed in.
Chloe suppressed the desire to guffaw.

“For those of you who are new, I want to
welcome you, when you speak to me call me John. You are at the
beginning of a long road. If you are worthy, have the right
strength of body and mind, a whole new world of possibility will
open up for you. For a special few,” he pointed up, “like
Stephanie, there is a possibility of gaining immortality. She is
garbed all in white, preparing, now with her true family to make
the crossing.”

Chloe looked around the room. The other girls
were hanging on every word. The man gestured casually and the
nervous young man walked around behind them. He kept his eyes cast
down at the floor.

John stood up away from the table and walked
in front of the girls. He stopped in front of the blonde girl. He
moved a curl out of her face and made a slight gesture with his
right hand. The nervous boy unzipped her dress and pulled it down.
The girl made an effort not to flinch.

Chloe stepped aside and said, “What the
fuck?!” She was shocked when John wound up and slapped her hard
across the cheek. Tears welled up in her eyes. In spite of all her
Judo training, she’d never been struck in anger by someone who
meant to hurt her. It took her out of herself for a moment.

John stared at her with malice. “Silence! Who
are
you
to speak.” She regained her composure and started
assessing the man. John returned his gaze to the blonde girl. She
was standing at attention. The man was inspecting her like she was
an animal. She wore black lace undergarments. Her panties hugged
her hips, which were a bit wide for his taste and he tutted and
touched the skin. He said, “As you mature, your shoulders and hips
might come into proper proportion. Pull your shoulders back?” She
had soft, full breasts that were cupped in a black lace bra. He
frowned and rubbed a finger on stretch marks on the sides of her
breasts. “A shame… You grew too fast for your skin.”

Chloe heard a droning chant come from the
altar room. Above her head, all of the people in the congregation
were fixated on the bronze serpent, which undulated hypnotically.
They all stared at it and chanted nonsense syllables.

Oh-wannnnn. Bahhh Ruuu. Oh-wannnnn. Bahhh
Ruuu.

Stephanie was in the coffin. She was
meditating and letting the voices carry her away to meet with her
friend on the other side. She opened her eyes and was in a grassy
meadow that was encircled with trees. Crows looked at her and cawed
in excitement.

Her friend was next to her in an instant.
“Stephanie! You blessed child! You special girl, you made it.”

She embraced the woman and felt nothing but
warmth and affection. “I’m ready, my Mother Demetria.”

“Close your eyes and repeat, say ‘I am ready.
I am ready. I am ready.”

“I am ready. I am ready.” Stephanie felt the
warmth wash over her again for a moment, then cold, and the light
in the meadow faded to a dim gray. The crows flew past. Demetria
was gone and she was alone.

The coffin lid flung open. Demetria jumped
out. She felt her body, her breasts, and fingered her pussy.

“Yes!! Yes!!!!!!!!” She screamed. “I am
alive! I am alive!”

Chloe heard the congregation cheering, “She
lives, she lives, she lives!”

Chloe made a measure of each of the men in
the room. John was fit and violent, but he was no fighter. He moved
with no sense of balance and no power. The other men looked like
business men, they were soft. They were ogling the girls and joking
with each other.

Chloe started to walk toward the door, “How
about you take this rose and shove it up your ass...
John
.”
She threw the rose on the floor. “I’m outta this freak show.”

John tried to grab her arm, but she twisted
out of it and pointed at him, “Don’t touch me.” The two business
men stepped in front of the door and folded their arms. They smiled
and laughed.

“She’s a live wire!” One of them said to
John.

“She’ll know her place soon enough.” John
said. He gestured to the young man. He tried to maneuver behind
her. The other girls watched the scene and remained at attention.
They weren’t sure if it was some kind of test. Chloe knew she
needed to act quickly. Surprise was on her side, but she gave them
one last chance, “just let me walk out of here and nobody will
regret it.”

John nodded to the boy, he clumsily tried to
tackle her. She moved aside and he lost balance over her
outstretched leg. As he stumbled forward, Chloe punched him hard
transferring her body weight through her legs and hips onto the
small bone behind his ear. The blow was like a flash bulb exploded
in his brain. The boy went to the ground on all fours. She stomped
on his forearm and felt the bones snap. He yelled and cradled the
arm and she kicked him in the side of his neck. He went to the
floor.

John rushed her with a hand raised to slap
her. From her perspective, he seemed to be moving in slow motion.
She could see all his vulnerable spots. She easily stepped aside
and punched him hard in his floating rib, and drove the force
through the bone, which cracked, as he bent over to protect his
midriff, she hit him square in the kidney with the butt of her
hand. He spasmodically fell to a knee and she kicked him hard in
the back of the skull. John’s brain rattled hard against the bone
and he went out and crumpled forward to the floor. For good measure
she stomped the hand he slapped her with. It felt like stepping on
a box of pasta.

She turned to face the businessmen at the
door. One of them was laughing at the spectacle and opened the door
with one hand. He said, “I got no argument! Go!” He sipped a wine
glass.

She sprinted up the stairs. The congregation
was surrounding Demetria who was now sitting on a golden throne
that had purple upholstery. They all hoped for her to speak with
them or to touch them. Judge Ralph was bowing on the floor saying,
“The gods walk among us! they walk among us!!”

The burly man was still at the side door, so
she shoved the heavy front doors open and sprinted toward the car.
Some of the congregation noticed the door open, but it barely
registered with them.

Keith was unconscious in the seat. Chloe
shouted, “Dad!!!” and shook him. He was out cold. She grabbed the
keys and started the Healey and sped away. The burly guard trotted
out after her, waited a few moments, then went back into the
building and shut the doors.

The burly guard went down into the basement.
The businessmen were standing out in the hall. One of them asked,
“Did she leave?”

The guard responded, “Yes.” He walked into
the room and took a look around. John was still out cold laying
awkwardly on the floor. The young man was on his back cradling his
broken arm. Something was wrong with his neck and he was afraid to
move. “
She
did this?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah, it was something else! She was very
well trained. She hit these two like a truck!” the man said with
admiration.

The guard just grunted. He knelt down by the
boy. “You’ll have to wait for Demetria to leave, then we’ll get you
an ambulance, OK. You just fell down the stairs, and landed on
John. Right?”

“Yes.” the boy said. He didn’t move his head.
He stared at the ceiling.

The guard felt the boy’s neck. “I think
you’re going to be fine. Just soft tissue damage. Can you wiggle
your toes?” The boy’s foot moved. “The other foot?” he moved the
other foot. “Good.”