'Is this my future?' thought Sister Hillie as she looked at the old woman who had chosen to leave the cloth in her old age rather than let it comfort her in her last days. She wondered why. But at this point Hillie knew not for certain whether she would survive the current events, or if so, in what shape she would be. No one touched by these events could emerge untouched and as before, that she knew without a doubt.<br/><br/>What she did know was that Gretchen was right about Sister Lena, she had known in a way for a long time, but today, when Lena leaned into her hands as the washcloth went over her small, ripe breasts, her nipples begging for more much, much more, or the barely concealed sigh as Hillie washed between her thighs, it had become clear and she would see to it that Lena left today itself if possible. Far away from here. She had a friend in another part of the country. A woman who ran a small farm, let Lena find herself there.  She was meant for the touch of a man, she was meant for the babes at her breast, for the moments of reading bedtime stories to little ones, followed by peaceful moments on the porch with a good man.<br/><br/>Hillie knew Lena felt insulted by the truthful words of the crone, but she had to know what the old woman had to say and replied to Lena's pleas with a firm denial. "Lena, this isn't about you or me alone, this is about an evil that has been here for a long time, we must hear her out."<br/><br/>From deep within her belly she felt heat rising, It seeped through her like tendrils of seduction as they coiled around her sex, teasing her womanly parts and making them ache with a deep want, sending the peaks of her breasts into hard tipped, pulsing agony only the attentions of a mouth could diminish. But she knew it was a distraction offered up by the demon and she took the defiled cross from her neck, held it tight enough to pierce her skin again, and set her teeth in determination.<br/><br/>"Proceed, and leave nothing out."<br/><br/>The old woman looked at her flushed face and said "Oh it has you bad, Hildegard, I see it in your face, but you can fight it, you must." She looked at Lena and said more mildly "Child, go to the kitchen and make us all a strong cup of tea, you will find all you need on a shelf by the stove." Lena left, glad to be away from the old crone. It wasn't that she didn't really trust her, she just felt angry at the words which had chipped away at a mental world she had built for herself, bride of Christ. The beautiful nun...but now? her hand trailed over her belly and she was no longer armored in her artificial certainty.<br/><br/>When she returned the ancient one commenced the tale.