'What are they doing to her?'
'Use your imagination,' he said flatly. 'I'm sure you'll come up with something.'
'The young girl mot … that bitch talked about at breakfast—the twelve- or thirteen-year-old?'
'I'm sure.'
The screaming began anew.
Then Nydia asked the question Sam was dreading to hear, but knowing it was coming. 'If your God—our God— is such a just God, why is He allowing this to happen?'
'I can't answer that question, Nydia. I don't believe any mortal could give you a satisfactory reply to that, and I'm equally certain it's been asked ten million times a day, since the beginnings of religion.'
She looked at him, with Sam very much aware of the heat in her eyes, and the heat did not come from just her anger at what was happening somewhere in the mansion.
'No, Nydia,' he said quietly.
'I love you, Sam.'
'And I love you. But the answer is still no.'
'What am I supposed to do?'
'Take a cold shower.'
'I don't want to take a cold shower. I want you. What would be the harm?'
The words roared into Sam's head: 'And when woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.'
'Can't you see what's happening, Nydia? You're being tempted. The Dark One is everywhere in this house; in every room, in every object. Fight it.'
'Sam!' she moaned. 'I want you to fuck me!'
'Fight it!'
She came to him, tearing off her shirt, ripping the garment from her. She tore off her bra and grabbed at his hands, placing them on her breasts, the nipples hard against his palms. She held his hands there, as she worked her loins against him. 'Don't you want me, Sam? Please. Let me suck you, Sam. I want to take you in my mouth.
I …'
He slapped her, slapped her open-handed, rocking her head back. He brought his hand back across her face, backhanding her, stunning her. A tiny drop of blood appeared on her mouth, where a lip had smashed against a tooth.
He laid her across the bed and ran to the bathroom for a wet towel. There was a strange roaring in his head, as visions so erotic they startled him began playing against the forces of good that reared up within him. Pictures of Nydia with her naked legs spread wide, her lushness open, waiting to receive him. Her hands worked at her erect nipples, pinching them, with her begging him to hurt her, bite her, fuck her.
Sam slammed a hard fist against the bathroom wall as the eroticism grew stronger, battling in his mind. A technicolor picture of him with his face pressed against her mons veneris, tonguing her into incredible wetness, while her hands wormed over his naked body. And then an invisible force slammed him against the wall, holding him immobile as the scenes of carnality grew wilder: Nydia with her long black hair fanned out over his belly, his penis in her mouth, her fingers caressing him as her tongue worked at his stiffness.
'Sam!' Nydia called from the bed, and he forced his head to turn and his eyes to open at her cries. 'Oh, God, Sam—help me!'
She lay with her jeans wadded around one ankle, her panties ripped from her. Her fingers were busy between her legs, working in and out of the dark wetness.
Summoning all his strength, Sam pushed away from the wall and staggered into the bedroom, a wet towel in his hand. He washed Nydia with the cold, dripping towel, one hand forcing her fingers from her womanhood.
Her eyes were wild as she fought him, and she was strong in her fury, lashing out at him. When she found he was winning physically, she changed tactics, under the commands of a Master over which she had no control. She softened under him, her hands at her side, letting Sam gently bathe her nakedness with the cold, wet towel. She lifted one hand, placing the palm against his cheek.
'I'm sorry, Sam. I don't know what came over me.'
'The Devil was tempting you. It's all right, now. It's over.'
She slipped her hand from his face to his neck, gently drawing his mouth to hers, finding no resistance as their lips touched. Slyly, she slipped her tongue between his lips, working hotly into his mouth, and finding him responding to her.
Sam's hands found her breasts, caressing them. His hand slipped downward, to part her legs, to enter the wetness of woman ready.
Then, from the deep well within her, good burst forth, for the moment overpowering evil. She harshly pushed him away. 'No, Sam. Get away. It's not over—can't you see?'
Almost violently, he pulled away from her nakedness. She covered herself with a sheet. 'Read to me from the Bible, Sam,' she hissed the request through clenched teeth. 'Read to me.'
Fighting back passions suddenly unleashed within him, emotions so wild and hot Sam was filled with fear, he grabbed for the Bible and flung it open.
'Read to me!' she screamed.
