Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
MIDNIGHT MASS
The hour was late and I’d already stared at my ceiling for what felt like an eternity. Replaying the day, the Sunday service, the hateful gaze of the vicar. Each time I turned it over in my mind I was aghast that my on-the-spot plan had worked.
Really, it was Reverend Mother who had pulled it together.
How many times had she done just that, in another way, for someone else?
How many women had she protected? For a woman to go to such feats as parading around the woods as a wolf, gathering a group of women to support, and influencing powerful men, Veilentine was surely an inspiration to behold.
We’d gone about our afternoon tasks and met with the community long after the Silent Damnation clergy had departed. I’d retired early, thinking Lilith would do the same; however, it was now well past midnight and she hadn’t yet come to bed.
I was just about to get up and look for her when my door creaked open and a candle warmed the room with light. My brow furrowed as I sat up, making out the veiled figure. “Reverend Mother?” I asked.
“Good evening, Jezebella. Would you like to come to midnight Mass with your Sisters in Christ and I?”
“What sort of midnight Mass?” I asked skeptically.
“One like you’ve never experienced before. Come, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten all the prayers and sessions that have brought you to where you are now.”
Just like Veilentine, she glided away. Tangled in my sheets, I nearly fell over as I stumbled out of bed, pulled on my housecoat, and slipped into my slippers.
When I reached the hallway, Reverend Mother stood waiting for me in the orange glow of her singular dripping candle.
“You have been a good disciple, Jezebella. I am happy you have found god’s blessings through Sister Lilith. ”
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for everything.”
“My motivations were heavenward, Sister. I believe you would make a fine Reverend Mother someday.”
“Me?” I put my hand to my chest in the darkness of the hall. “I’m a horrible nun.”
“Hmm…” Veilentine hummed. “The way you have guarded Sister Lilith, the way you kept Pandorian and Delilyx’s affections a secret, and how you sacrificed your own reputation to guard Iris Maison…
You walked the line of wickedness and virtue, a line I am quite fond of.
I believe churches could benefit from more bad nuns and sinful women, don’t you? ”
A huff of a laugh left my throat. “Maybe so.” I hesitated, staring up at the tall doors of the sanctuary. “What sort of… service… is this tonight?”
She rested her hand on the iron knob and pulled it open. “Welcome to your first midnight Mass, Sister Jezebella.”
In the dim glow of the altar and under the blue glow of the moon filtering through the stained glass, Reverend Mother breezed down the church aisle, clutching a black robe at her nape.
Her veil was further back than usual, sitting like a headband and allowing her salt and pepper hair to frame her face.
Not Sunday Mass appropriate, but perhaps this was midnight Mass customs…
for whatever kind of worship service this would be.
It was then, as I made it halfway down the row of pews, I noticed three women lighting prayer candles at the front. Likewise in black robes and wearing their veils further back. Sister Pandorian turned, her red hair a deep garnet in the dim light. “Welcome.” She smiled.
Sister Delilyx beamed when she saw me. “Your first midnight Mass, I’m so excited.”
“What is this?” I asked. “You both look… different.”
“Have you seen your girl?” Sister Delilyx clutched her hands. “Oh, wait until you see her.”
Sister Pandorian tilted her chin, gesturing over my shoulder with a sly expression.
When I turned, Lilith swayed forward, holding a white robe at her neck, her veil back behind her ears, letting her golden waves ripple down her shoulders. “Grace to you, Sister Jezebella,” she said, moving forward and grazing her fingertip along my jaw. “From god our mother.”
My breath caught in my throat. “You look beautiful. Are you here for… midnight mass, too?”
The corner of her mouth lifted and she nodded. “I’m quite intrigued by these prayerful church services of yours. Reverend Mother and our Sisters in Christ thought we could all join together in sacred worship tonight. What do you think?”
I nodded like a love-drunk fool. “Yes, yes, yes. That sounds…” I cleared my throat, feeling heat drop to my center. “I’d do just about anything with you.”
Lilith took my hand in hers and faced the stage. We all paused as we watched Reverend Mother take the pulpit, easing her grip around the sides as if she were a priest sharing a homily.
Pandorian and Delilyx joined us. I leaned over to Pandorian and whispered, “What if Father Benedict walks in on one of his late night kitchen raids?”
The fiery nun scoffed before smirking. “Don’t you know? Reverend Mother gave him his special tea before bed again. He’ll be lucky if he’s awake before noon tomorrow.”
Delilyx giggled. “Veilentine sure does put her gardening to use. Valerian root, I believe she called it.”
I shook my head in awe and disbelief. Our prioress had been pulling strings right in front of my face this entire time.
Reverend Mother hummed, pulling my attention back to the pulpit.
“God created us to love women,” she began.
“Firstly, ourselves. We are to love our remarkable bodies, our astute wit, and our unyielding strength.” She sucked in a breath, looking us all over.
Gazing at Pandorian and Delilyx where they linked hands, and the same to Lilith and me.
“Secondly, each of us here was blessed with the desire to love women. In friendship and admiration, in possessing the gift of seeing women for the remarkable heavenly spirits they are… and all of us in this sanctuary tonight have likewise each been uniquely blessed beyond measure to desire women as well.” Lilith squeezed my hand.
My heart swelled. This was a sermon I resonated with. Finally.
“Our divine yearning for women is sacred. We crave each others’ soft power.
We worship at each others’ altar, drinking from the well of the divine, following the sanctified road map of our god-given counterpart’s perfect, flawless bodies.
” Veilentine made eye contact with each of us in her reassuring, wise way.
“Tonight, my darling nuns, we worship god in the truest, most saintly way… by worshipping each other.”
“Let it be so,” the nuns around me said softly.
Reverend Mother stepped to the side of the pulpit and stood in the center of the altar.
Long, dripping candles flanked her, illuminating her form.
She reached up to the nape of her neck and slowly untied the ribbon there before outstretching her arms, letting the robe fall into a puddle of onyx on the floor. We all collectively gasped.
Jesus on the crucifix behind her seemed to gasp as well. What a lovely backdrop to our midnight mass.
Beneath her robe, black leather arched over her breasts in a tight brassiere. Her panties were skin-tight leather, thinning into nothing around her ass, only a thin string perched between her cheeks. On her legs stretched long stockings… her veil accentuating the ensemble.
With a coy grin, she reached for something behind the pulpit, and pulled out a long, slender whip. After tapping it to her palm, she pointed to Pandorian. “Undress, Sister,” she demanded. “Then unwrap your divine counterpart.”
“Yes, Reverend Mother,” Sister Pandorian said lowly. “With great pleasure.” Walking toward the altar, she spun, undoing the ribbon at her collar and letting her robe fall to the floor.
Delilyx giggled. “I am so blessed.”
Yes, yes, she was.
Sister Pandorian showed off her curvaceous form, dressed in a black and white one piece that connected at her crotch; however, with an advantageous hole decorating and revealing her intimate area.
Her nipples were highlighted by the same holes in the fabric around her breasts.
And similar to Reverend Mother, white sheer stockings inched up over her knees.
“Your turn,” she said to Delilyx, prowling near and kissing her neck. “Let me behold your glory.”
“Yes, please, my Sister in Christ,” Delilyx answered.
Pandorian eased the robe off her counterpart’s shoulders, revealing her corresponding outfit.
Delilyx’s body was a perfect match to Pandorian’s as she pressed into her, closing her eyes as her neck was kissed and sucked.
I whispered to Lilith, “Is this what you want? Me, in the sanctuary, our convent watching, in front of Jesus and the saints? Do you want me to fuck you here?”
Lilith nodded. “This is exactly what I want.”
Reverend Mother clipped down the altar stairs in pointed heels and used her whip to caress Pandorian’s lower back. Suddenly, she flung it back and snapped the back of Pandorian’s thigh. Still kissing Delilyx’s neck, she let out a small moan. “Thank you, Reverend Mother.”
“Had you both been… in sessions with Veilentine, like I was?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me as I beheld the erotic scene play out.
Delilyx tilted her chin upward, giving more access to her cleavage. “We’ve each followed along our own unique paths to righteousness. However, now, we only attend midnight Mass together.”
“That sounds nice,” I said.
Turning on her heel, Reverend Mother surveyed Lilith and I. “You,” she pointed the whip at me. “Should be our naked little lamb this evening. Get undressed. Sister Lilith, help her obey me.”
“Yes, Reverend Mother,” Lilith purred in my ear from behind me. She shoved my robe off and reached for the collar of my night dress. Once she’d unbuttoned it, she eased it over my head and tossed it on the front pew.
Reverend Mother looked me up and down. “Now remove her underwear.”