Xavier released Helena and she fell to her knees, but before she could try to crawl away, he outstretched his hand and closed it. From his clenched fingers, a coil of light seemingly materialized, stretching down to her with a glowing ring appearing around her neck. The two lights joined and she gasped as she felt Xavier’s power weigh down on her. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t, as she felt like she was at the bottom of the ocean, being crushed from every angle with incomprehensible force. She looked up at him, realizing what he had just done. The coil of light was a leash and the ring around her neck was a collar. He had just made her his property.
“You think that by denying me, I’ll just let you go? Oh no, things are not that simple. The moment I set my eyes on you, you lost your freedom. You lost the right to run away or to even die. If you will not be my queen, you will be my slave. Every inch of your body now belongs to me. Your entire existence is nothing more than a toy in the palm of my hand. At this very moment, I could rape you with savagery never before seen and there would be nothing you could do to stop me. But don’t worry, I won’t take you like that. No, I’ll bend you to my will until you beg me to rip away your virginity.” He then pulled on her leash, forcing her up onto her knees with her mouth open. He lifted her chin, moving his thumb across her pursed lips and then pressing down on her tongue. She wanted to pull away, to push him back, but her whole body had gone limp. “This collar will keep you from telling anyone about who I really am. Even if you try to write it down, that seal will stop you.”
“I’ll never give in to you,” she hissed with tears streaming down her face.
“Oh, you will. But please continue to resist, that makes it all the more fun for me.”
Chapter 2
Helena woke up with a scream, reaching up to the ceiling as if to grab a lifeline thrown to her. She was back in her bed but looked around fearfully for Xavier, finding only her concerned roommate.
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah… I’m ok, just a bad dream.” ‘After the day I had, it’s no surprise that I would have some kind of nightmare.’
Seeking comfort, she turned to her bedside table to retrieve her crucifix, but did not find it. Had it fallen in the night? She reached under the bed and table but felt only the carpet. As she continued to lean over, she felt something that made her feel like an ice sculpture. She had woken up in both bra and panties, so she was certain that the encounter with Xavier had been a dream (considering he had burned them off her), but as she shifted her legs, she could feel the soft cotton pressed to her virgin flower. That’s right… those flames had shaved her like a lamb.
She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but something made it difficult, a pressure holding her on all sides of her neck, like a hand… or a collar. She could feel it under her skin, that invisible restraint that Xavier had put on her. It didn’t feel like any kind of material, but it was THERE. It was real. Everything that had happened last night was real. Helena began to hyperventilate, feeling like she was still in his embrace, one of his hands being used to fondle her breasts and the other penetrating her slit.
“Sophie, there’s something I need to tell you. Last night, I—”
Helena gagged as her throat closed with a stinging burn appearing on her tongue. She was unable to breathe and Sophie rushed over to see what was wrong. Her throat cleared after several seconds and Helena gasped for breath.
“What in God’s name is going on with you lately?! And what were you saying about last night?”
Helena turned to her, having never felt so helpless in all her life. She couldn’t tell her friend anything, and when she went to class, or even just breakfast, HE would be there.
“I… I, uh… lost my crucifix last night.”
“Oh… well… I’m sorry to hear that. I could help you look for it.”
“No, I’ll just look for it myself later. Let’s go get breakfast.”
Even with all of her fear and anxiety, Helena’s appetite had returned with a vengeance and she shoveled down her breakfast like she was in an eating contest. Her friends all watched her, wondering what had happened to make her so ravenous. After returning from the kitchen with seconds, her face paled as she heard her friends mentioning the suicides from the previous day.
“What do you mean “unnatural”?” one of her friends asked Sophie.
“Well from what I heard, they all killed themselves in horribly gruesome ways. Supposedly, one them drowned himself in boiling water, another stabbed himself to death, and the third gutted and then hanged himself.”
All the girls gasped in revulsion and crossed themselves, praying to God to protect them from whatever evil might have influenced the boys’ deaths and to have mercy on their souls. Helena stared at her food, no longer able to eat. If Xavier had really killed them, or made them kill themselves, then what else was he capable of? Could he really be the Antichrist? Was his coming a sign of the Apocalypse? And could he really be in this room with her?
‘I need to be strong and have my faith in God. I’ve spent my whole life training to join the Swiss Guard and protect His Holiness. I won’t let this Devil-spawn scare me. With God on my side, he will never beat me. Lord, please grant me the strength to fight this evil, to purge him from this holy city. Let me be the shield for this school, let me be an instrument for your divine will.’
Repeating those words over and over again to herself, she regained her confidence. She could do it. She could stand against this threat. She would not give in.
Of course, the closer she got to the classroom, the more nervous she felt. Xavier would surely be there. Would he arrive there before her? After? Or would they end up walking side by side down the same hallway? She didn’t know if she had the strength to face him. She arrived at class, and stepping through the front door, she felt her heart stop. Xavier was at his desk, eyes closed and chin rested on his hand, as if asleep. Just like before, he wore the black coat of a priest but without the collar, standing out from the other male students. She moved slowly past him, like a mouse trying to avoid waking a snoozing lion.
“Good morning, Helena.”
He spoke the words, his voice sounding normal to everyone else in the room, but to her, it was different, having that same commanding depth from the night before. There was more to it, though. It was as if in the microsecond between the words being vocalized and reaching her ears, time seemed to come to a sudden crawl. She felt Xavier come up from behind her and grab her by the arms with her clothes vanishing off her body. He ran his tongue up the length of her back, making her shiver as he sampled the taste of her smooth skin. He came up to her neck and then the back of her ear, and just when she thought he was going to whisper something to her, the illusion vanished and his words reached her.
A few people looked over, wondering what her reaction would be. Helena’s zealotry and affinity for stirring up trouble made her an uneasy person to get close to.