The ritual room was cold and silent. You could practically hear the wax dripping from the candles that gave the room light. There was deeply spiritual energy flowing throughout the room.

Leora was on her knees on the floor alongside the other sisters. Each girl with palms together, kneeling in silent worship of the Lord. Her knees screamed at her. The floor was cold and hard. She tried her best to focus on her prayers, but the pain was so very distracting. Leora’s legs were shaking as she held the position on the floor.

She opened an eye to peek at the other sisters beside her. They were all so calm and peaceful. The sisters were steady, unlike Leora. They were focused on prayer without the distraction of the physical getting in the way.

She felt jealous.

Her open eye looked around the room and found Corvina’s. Leora’s world flipped on its axis and suddenly the only people in the room were her and Corvina. Corvina was standing in front of her and Leora’s eyes snapped to attention. Leora was still kneeling on the floor but now she was naked, her hands palm upwards on her spread legs.

Just as the panic began to set in, Corvina gripped Leora’s hair and tugged with a growl. Leora whined in pain. Corvina held Leora’s face between her legs. She was close enough to smell Corvina’s arousal. Leora realized right then, that she didn’t know how she knew what arousal smelled like.

Her mind seared in a confused haze and Leora stuck her tongue out to lick… but Corvina tugged her back.

‘Forsake the Lord and worship me. Worship me and forsake the Lord. You know well what it means to worship false idols, Leora.’

Leora nodded weakly. She knew it was a dire sin. The Lord is the only true God and to falter here would have great consequence. She had to fight her perverted impulses.

She could feel Corvina’s laugh reverberate around her.

‘Pitiful girl. How pathetic you look right now. Dark stains down your cheeks from your tears. Your eyes blank and glassy. A stupid lust drunk grin on your lips. You pretend to fight but God knows. There is no saving a sinner like you.’

Corvina rubbed her foot against Leora’s cunt and her whole body thrummed with lust. Lust. She was feeling lust. It was shameful. A sin. She was a holy woman of the Lord. She had to pull herself together but the flames in her head were calling her name.

Corvina snapped her fingers and Leora’s hips thrust on their own.

‘Oh Leora. Poor, hopeless Leora. Each step you take is sending you down a path with no return. Will you be able to stop walking? Or, when the time comes, will you run toward the abyss?’

Another snap. Leora stuck her tongue out further.

The haze vanished and she was suddenly back in the ritual room with the others. The heat between her legs begged for attention and her clothes had returned. Her heart caught in her throat as she fully realized what being back with the others meant. She closed her eyes and prayed that none of the other sisters had seen her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

She opened them and felt immediate relief. Nobody had noticed. Not even Corvina, who wasn’t even in the room. Had she ever been there? Leora was not certain. The vision and reality collided and scrambled her brain. She was struggling to keep hold of what was real and what was an invention of her own perverted mind.

When the bells started ringing indicating the end of the nightly period of silence, the room all but roared into life. All the girls stood up and stretched their limbs. Kneeling for an hour straight wasn’t easy. The sisters whispered and murmured to one another as they left the room, leaving Leora standing there alone in the candle-glow.

She eventually collected herself enough to leave. Hiding her flushed cheeks under a bowed head as she walked to her quarters to get ready for bed.

. . .

Leora lay in bed with Rosa’s red journal open in front of her. As usual, she attempted to distract herself from her visions by burying her nose in her books. Rosa and Adria’s relationship had deepened in the months that had passed between entries.

Rosa wrote of how she tried to fight her feelings for Adria. She wanted to be a good nun and as such spoke of distancing herself from her temptation. She avoided Adria as much as she could. It seemed like Adria was unhappy with this and acted on it.

Adria finally confronted me today. After the Vespers she approached me in the hall. She pressed me against the wall and I could not escape her eyes. She whispered in my ear, yet I cannot recall what she said.

I know that I am in love with her. She removed the hood of her habit and tried to remove mine. Her hair was beautiful but I had to run away. She is like the snake to Eve and I fear that I will not be able to resist her. I have to hide from her but the Abbey is small and she always seems to have eyes on me.

My mind keeps returning to the memory of those ember eyes.

Leora yawned as she turned the page and considered going to sleep. It was getting late and she hadn’t been getting good rest. Memories of her nightmares crossed her mind and she decided to stay up a little longer, hiding from more of them.

Another entry detailing a busy day at the convent. Leora realized that the ritual room was called something else back then. Rosa referred to the room as the chapter-house where the sisters gathered to hear readings from the Abbess. Leora and the sisters of today instead used the chapel for most of their activities and services, chapter reading included.

The next few entries were much the same. It seemed like Rosa had succeeded in staying away from Adria and, without the temptation of the other woman, she seemed to be thriving.

Rosa described walking through the courtyard as a peaceful experience. She wrote about the browning trees and falling leaves. Leora could picture it as she read. Fall was her favorite time of year and the Abbey was particularly beautiful surrounded with bronzes and ambers.

The harvest is due next week. It should be plentiful. The fields are full and we are thanking the Lord for His blessing.

However I have fears. I have caught glimpses of Adria around corners and in shadows. I fear she is growing impatient with the distance I have imposed between us. I wish she would understand that it is for the best if we did not speak. I have thought about going to the Abbess to talk about my temptation but she would likely just punish me for my impure thoughts.

I must keep my troubles to myself.

Leora realized that she was incredibly lucky to have an Abbess she could trust. If Lucille wasn’t around, she knew that Corvina would listen and understand her concerns.

She turned the page to find a very large entry from Rosa. Her handwriting had changed. It looked a little bit more like the handwriting from the warning at the beginning of the book - like her hands were shaking as she wrote it.

Adria showed me a candle today. She led me to my quarters and had me kneel for her like I would for the Lord. She held out the candle and asked me to repeat phrases. I do not remember what I said.

Adria told me to forget and I did.

When I was finished repeating the candle came to life on its own and I felt a part of me become the flame. My mind burned like it was on fire.

She called me a good girl and I felt tingles up my spine. I hung on every word she said, waiting for the next with eager anticipation. I cannot help but giggle and smile when I am around her. I just feel so happy I could die.

She said that she may have broken me. Made me vow too much. She said I took each and every promise far too literally, and it broke my mind.

Adria asked me to remove my habit and I did.

She called me a stupid little test subject and I have never felt more pride. She told me how I was her prize and that the first time she laid her eyes on me she wanted to make me hers. I am not able fight her anymore and I feel silly for ever wanting to. She said the door is open and I could run away but I simply do not want to. I only want to be her disciple.

Adria told me that I loved her and I do.

I do not remember what happened afterwards but it was dawn by the time my memories returned. She found this journal and asked me to write in it for her and then left. She told me that I knew what to write. The next entry is her will and her words flowing through me.

Blessed be.

Leora felt her breath catch in her throat. The thought of turning the page sent her heart racing with fear. A fear that was primal, deep inside her, that begged her to close the book and run. She remembered her daydream from earlier:

‘Each step you take is sending you down a path with no return.’

The temptation to keep walking was eating at her. She was so painfully curious about what lay on the next pages. She was being torn in two: a rational side that knew that something about this seemed dangerous, and a twisted side that needed the rush of finding out more.

Before she even realized what she was doing her hands had flipped to the next page. The ink seemed to shift and move as the page began to settle. Leora rubbed her eyes and suddenly the writing was clear. The handwriting was different, elegant and sophisticated, far more so than Rosa’s regular script. It looked like someone else had picked up the quill.

This journal was not available to every sister of the Abbey and yet here you are, reading it. You are special. If you have made it this far then you are unlikely to escape. The visions you’ve been having will get worse. They will get harder to resist with each day that passes. Already you have found yourself slipping into their sensations.

There was a warning at the beginning of this journal. I made Rosa write it just like she is writing this entry. It was no ruse.

You will be forever changed, Leora.

Leora reread the line. It didn’t change. She was stunned. How could her name be in this journal? The ink shifted and moved like liquid almost as if her name was quivering on the page. It was easier for Leora to believe that it was simply her exhaustion and not some kind of magick altering the page to show her name.

And yet, even with that warning, with that fact, you are still reading. You might be thinking: “I can stop reading whenever I want.” You know as well as I that you are far too stupid to stop reading, Leora.

So do not try.

Leora nodded at the book as if it was speaking to her. Her eyes were glassy, the light in them faded. Her chamber candle flickered out and left the room in the dark. The words on the page glowed in an otherworldly manner and snakes emerged from the shadows to snare her.

The fact of it all, Leora, is that you have been chosen. By the Gods. You are changing in ways you cannot fathom and your role in this world is far greater than you could possibly grasp. You will use your new fangs to bite your thumb, hard enough to draw blood.

Her hand shook and quivered. She was trying to fight it. It was just a book, and she was simply a reader. She knew it was ridiculous that she could have fangs like the book was telling her she did, but she ran her tongue over her teeth to confirm all the same.

Razor sharp fangs on her upper and lower rows of teeth threatened to slice her own tongue. Her heart skipped a beat. The book was not lying. Something was whispering in the dark in a language she didn’t understand.

She bit her thumb and the blood started welling in the wound.

Good girl. Now, place your bleeding thumb on this page and repeat these words aloud.

“I forsake the Lord and embrace sin.”

Leora did as the book told her. Her thumb left a streak of red on the page.

“I forsake the Lord and embrace sin, Mistress.”

She felt something inside her mind burn away and she let out a giggle. It tickled.

It is done. Another piece of you burned to ash. Have you noticed how much of you is missing? There is more ash than girl in that head of yours. Sin more, let it all burn away and you will be rewarded. Now, sleep.

Leora’s limbs suddenly felt like lead. She couldn’t hold herself up any longer and collapsed into her bed. She was so tired. Sleep claimed her within seconds and Leora’s consciousness was lost to the dark.

. . .

Leora was in a town. It was familiar but not. There were people lining the streets all going about their business, trying to get from point A to point B. Some were laughing and walking together. Others were glum as they walked into a nearby bar or a sin-filled brothel.

In the crowd of people she spotted Corvina. Sticking out in her white and black habit. Lucille walked behind her, shuffling her feet with an empty expression on her face. The two were linked by a collar around Lucille’s neck and a leash in Corvina’s hands. Something was wrong.

Leora tried to call out to them but her voice came out as nothing more than a croak. A man was approaching them with a kind of dangerous determination. He was holding a knife.

Leora tried to scream but made no sound.

“False prophet, heretic, demon!” The man screamed out, raising his knife toward Corvina as he rushed at her.

Corvina smiled and looked at Leora. Leora felt fear.

Lucille jumped in front of the knife and it plunged into her gut.

It happened both so fast and so agonizingly slow and Leora felt helpless to change it. Lucille fell to her knees and looked up at Corvina with pride. Corvina pet her hair gently.

Suddenly, Leora was back in her bed. She was slick with sweat and her heart was pounding. The sun was filtering through the window ever so slightly.

It was just a dream. Just a nightmare. Lucille was okay.

Leora sat up and buried her face into her palms. Her nightmares were getting worse rapidly. She felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks. It was easy to fall into despair when sleep was difficult to acquire. Her head throbbed. With a sigh she decided to throw the negative emotions away, to will herself into a better mood.

She ran her fingers through her hair and bumped into something at the top of her head. She yelped and pulled her hands away. After a moment she did it again to verify it wasn’t her imagination. Her fingers gently stroked across her scalp until she found two lumps near the back of her head. They reminded her of a baby goat’s horns coming in.

She looked at the vial of sleep remedy on her bedside and wondered idly if it was having some kind of long-lasting side effect. Even though she had abstained from the medicine for a while, maybe the ingredients were doing something to her.

She could take it to Corvina and ask her what she thought but the thought of doing so scared Leora. Out of habit, Leora bit her lip as she was thinking things over and then winced in pain. Blood trickled down her lip; her new fangs had pierced her flesh with ease. She licked the wound and shivered at the taste of her own blood.

Out of desperation and perhaps shame, she dropped to her knees on the floor.

“My Lord, please. Spare me. I know not what has come over me but I need help. I beg of you to save me from this. Please.”

Her words echoed in the room and only silence followed. Something was happening to her. Her connection with the Lord had vanished. Suddenly, she recalled the passage she was reading the night prior and decided to come clean to Corvina. After first service she would bring her the vial and the book.

Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe Corvina could save her. Leora had to try. The consequences were too great if she didn’t. Hell was not a place for a holy girl like herself. Her visions told her she was a sinner and maybe they were true.

She shook her head clear of the thought. She wasn’t a sinner. She couldn’t be. Denial was the only way she could stay sane.

. . .

After first service, she tucked the vial in her sleeve and grabbed Rosa’s journal. She walked through the halls to get to Corvina’s study but something felt different. The halls felt colder than usual. The light that entered through the windows was captured by the shadows in the hall.

Leora felt something watching her. She closed her eyes and whispered prayers to herself as a form of protection, or perhaps just to make her feel more brave.

Luckily with the hood of her habit up none of the other sisters could see the lumps growing on her head. Hiding her teeth however, was a much more difficult endeavor. She was very mindful of how full her mouth felt at all times and had to force herself to not smile or laugh.

Her whole body was filled with stress and paranoia. She looked over her shoulders as she approached Corvina’s door. As quietly as she could, she turned the handle to enter. Corvina was already there, relaxing in the window.

Corvina turned to face Leora as she entered the room and smiled. Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight and Leora’s worry-filled face immediately softened. Leora’s heart skipped a beat.

“H-hello, Sister Superior.”

Corvina extended an arm and open palm inviting her to join. “Good morning, little Leora. Come, join me.”

Leora practically floated toward her superior and sat down beside her. She let the vial slip down into her hand from the sleeve it was hiding in clutched it in her palm.

“Did you have another stressful night? Your eyes look to be filled with distress and exhaustion.”

Leora took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes, Mother Superior. I had terrible nightmares last night. They felt so real.” She started to cry, tears running down her soft cheeks and pooling at her chin. She sniffled and looked away from Corvina. “I saw someone I care for get hurt. I am just so afraid.”

Her voice trailed off as she started sobbing. Corvina wiped her tears away and pulled her closer, Leora’s head resting against her bosom.

“Oh child… There must be something heavy on your conscience for you to be filled with this much stress. You do not have to hide your feelings from me. It would only give you more stress to suppress things.”

Leora sobbed louder and nodded against Corvina’s chest. All of the emotions that had been welling up inside her burst free at once. Corvina hugged her tighter.

“You know, dreams and nightmares are reflective of your current state of mind, each one having meaning. I suspect you have been holding something on your shoulders that you should free yourself of. Relieve yourself of the burden and allow me to share the load. Tell me, Leora, what is bothering you so?”

Leora sniffled and handed Corvina the journal.

“This journal belonged to a sister named Rosa. She was a member of the order back when the Abbey was called Sacred Light. She had feelings for another sister named Adria but something was wrong. Rosa tried to hide away from Adria but eventually Adria did something to her. She changed.”

Corvina was listening with rapt attention. Her lips were slightly turned in a smile. Leora read it as a smile of safety, a signal that she could trust Corvina with her concerns.

“The last page I was able to read… it scared me. I - I still do not know what happened. It was like there was some witchcraft or curse placed on the book. I could not look away and - and I - Oh, Lord save me, I think there is something wrong with me. My name was on the page. How could that be? It was written hundreds of years ago.”

Corvina shushed Leora and opened the book. Leora couldn’t see the book from the angle she laid but heard the sound of pages fluttering.

“Oh, Leora. You poor thing.”

Leora let out a sigh of relief. Corvina would know what to do. She was glad she brought the book to her Superior.

“You are so exhausted that you are seeing things.”

Leora blinked in shock and pulled away from Corvina.

“What?”

Corvina held up the book toward her and flipped through the pages. Leora’s blood ran cold. Every page was blank.

“How could this be? I swear on the Lord’s name that the book was not blank.”

Corvina had a look of sympathy on her face. “Little Leora, fret not, I believe you may have seen what you think you saw. However, reality differs and the book is bare. I am truly worried about you. Your lack of sleep is harming you.”

Leora didn’t know how to process it all. She knew what she saw, what she read. Yet the book before her was blank. Confusion and frustration welled up inside her.

“Mother Superior, I am so sorry. I just - I do not know what to say. I know that what I read was real. It has to be… Surely I could not have made it up?”

Corvina simply stroked her cheek and set the book down beside her. “I do not know if you made it up or not, but usually visions or hallucinations do come from one’s own imagination. Your imagination is very creative, it is one of the traits that I love about you. It is entirely possible that it was something your subconscious created as a solution to your mysteries.”

It certainly sounded believable to Leora. She hadn’t slept well in a very long time and she had been devoting herself to solving this mystery she created for herself. Her eyes lit up as she remembered the fangs in her mouth and the lumps on her head.

“Mother Corvina, could I be possessed by a demon? Would a demon be able to make me see things that are not there?”

Corvina raised an eyebrow. “Well, yes, a demon certainly could induce visions. Whyever do you think you are possessed?”

She opened her mouth and revealed her sharp teeth then pulled her hood down and led one of Corvina’s hands to the lumps on her scalp. Tears welled in her eyes again.

“I am so afraid, Mother Superior. Please. Tell me what is happening to me.”

Corvina inspected the lumps on her head and audibly hummed as she thought it over. She stuck a thumb in Leora’s mouth and pulled it open, gently tapping the sharp teeth with a pad of a finger and winced.

“So sharp. How strange. Leora, I need you to be honest with me. Is there anything else you have been hiding? I cannot help you if I do not have all the facts.”

Leora nodded and revealed the dark crystalline looking vial in her hand.

“This. I took this remedy for my sleep for a while but it started losing its effectiveness. Instead of increasing the dose I decided to stop taking it. I still feel the itch to take more every time my head throbs.”

Corvina snatched it from her, fury on her face. “Who gave you this? Where did you get it?”

Leora pictured Lucille’s face and clenched her fists. “I found it. It was buried in the flower beds.” A lie. She felt rewarded in her cunt and her whole body shivered.

Corvina raised her eyebrow at her. Leora suddenly remembered that Lucille said Corvina had given it to her. Corvina obviously knew the truth.

“I am sorry, Mother Corvina. I lied. The truth is that Lucille gave it to me. I do not want her getting in trouble for my mistake. She was just trying to help me with my lack of sleep.”

Leora’s instinct took over. She dropped to her knees and bowed down to the floor.

“Please punish me in her stead.”

Corvina lifted Leora’s chin with the tip of her shoe. “She handed you this and you just partook of it without knowing what it was? Leora, this is very dangerous. How much did you drink? For how long?”

Leora nodded sheepishly and avoided eye contact. “It was only two drops a night, Mother Superior. I had some nightly for a little longer than the cycle of the moon. I was growing too dependent on it. Now I fear that it has changed me. Please forgive me.”

Corvina’s brief flash of anger dissipated and she returned to her normal demeanor. “I wish you had come to me with this first. I cannot believe you, Leora. You are usually so smart. This vial was the apple in the garden of Eden and you took a bite without second thought. You call yourself a nun yet you fall to the simplest temptations.”

Leora flinched at the words. She knew that she had made a mistake. It was why she wanted to keep it secret to begin with.

“Still, it is better that you did bring this to me in the end. Unfortunately, Leora, the physical changes you have experienced are permanent. However…”

Permanent. The word echoed in Leora’s mind. It was the last thing she wanted to hear. Corvina offered Leora a hand up and guided her back to the chair. She gently squeezed Leora’s shoulder as she trailed off in thought. After a moment, Leora looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

“However? You must tell me, Sister Superior, please.”

Corvina sighed and dangled the vial in front of Leora. Leora’s eyes followed it from side to side, feeling a deep need inside her. “However, if you want the transformation to cease… you need to take more. Your reliance on this drug is now far deeper than simply for better sleep. It is a potent blend of magick and a demon’s sexual excretions.”

Leora’s eyes widened in shock, her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. She had been consuming demon fluid. Disgusting. Worse still, she had to keep taking it. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

“The spell cast on this vial curses the user if the liquid is consumed. Through the magick, the liquid never depletes. The demonic fluid causes addiction and torpor, the latter being the sleep aid you used it for. The caveat is that the curse is only complete if it is consumed for thirty consecutive days. You, unfortunately, took it for longer and the curse was completed. I loaned it to Lucille to use once or twice, not for daily use.”

Leora couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Addiction? Curse? How could she continue being a nun with such a sinful dependence.

“What happens if I do not take it?”

“I am not certain, dearest. I pray we will never have to find out. You felt withdrawal, yes? An itch and a headache, like your whole body was missing something.”

Leora nodded. “It was awful. It has since vanished. If I take more… that pain will return when I stop again.”

“Leora, you do not understand. Until we find a way to undo this curse, you will need to take this drug. You cannot stop.”

“But - I - I stopped taking the remedy because two drops were not enough anymore. I needed more. There were voices in my head begging me to take three. How much will I need to take after years of this? I won’t be able to carry on like that forever.”

Corvina gripped Leora’s hair and looked into her eyes. Leora’s world fell away as she stared into the burning flame of her superior’s eyes.

“The damage is done Leora. We will search every tome, every library, until we find a way to undo this curse you carry.”

Leora felt tears running down her cheeks.

“Until then, you will take as much of the drug as it takes, for as long as it takes. Am I clear? The alternative is you fully falling to demonic corruption. Need I remind you of the obvious? A demon cannot be a nun.”

If she wasn’t a nun, then she wouldn’t be able to be around Corvina. She needed to be a nun.

Leora, in a tired monotonous voice, gave in. “Yes, Mistress Corvina.”

Corvina released Leora and looked away.

“There is one more side effect that I have neglected to mention. The curse progresses with each and every sin you make. The horns growing on your head suddenly appearing as they have is indicative of accelerated progression. Even minor ones have an effect. Did you notice anything happen when you lied to me earlier?”

Leora bit her lip gently so as to not pierce the skin with her fangs. She thought back to the heat.

“Yes, I did. I felt aroused. When I sin it feels like someone else is taking control of my body… No, not just someone. Another version of me. One that is dark and has shameful thoughts.”

Corvina hummed and nodded. “Dangerous. The curse was designed by someone very intelligent and sly. I fear if you had waited a moment longer before bringing this to me, it would have been too late to save you. It is a self-enforcing curse. You sin. You want to sin more. Over and over until that other ‘you’ you described takes over.”

‘You want to sin more.’ The words bounced around in Leora’s skull. She salivated at the thought. She imagined kneeling under Corvina’s desk, under the skirt of her Superior’s habit. She could taste Corvina on her tongue. She stuck her tongue out for more.

Corvina slapped Leora - to bring her back to reality - and she bit her tongue in surprise. She tasted blood.

“Leora, remember the teachings of Sacred Night. How the Light is balanced equally by the Night? Think of this curse as an imbalance inside you. You have to stop yourself from sinning, otherwise the Night will outweigh the Light. No matter who or what is in that head of yours, you have to resist.”

Leora nodded weakly. She wasn’t sure if she could. The voices in her head, the sensations she felt, they were becoming overwhelming. Corvina believed in her. She believed that she could resist this temptation.

“I will resist. I swear it. I will uphold the balance.”

“Good. I expect nothing less than the best from you, dear one. Do not disappoint me. Now, it is time for your dose.”

Leora shook her head and pulled away. “No, I would sleep the day away. I would miss every service.”

“Be that as it may, I need to observe how the tincture affects you and you need rest.”

Corvina gripped Leora’s hair again and tugged hard and Leora yelped. She pulled Leora’s face close to her own and growled into her ear.

“Disobeying your Superior is a sin, stupid girl. Already you fail. What worth are your promises if you immediately break them?”

Leora moaned, despite herself. The pain felt good and Corvina’s voice in her ear felt even better.

“You moan when you are in pain. You stare at me with lust. You are a sinner, Leora, but you are not impossible to save. You will return to me every night for your dose and you will beg. Then we can begin to work on your filthy mind.”

She released Leora and looked at her expectantly. Leora understood the signal but hesitated. Something about this felt wrong, backwards. Was Corvina encouraging her to sin? Was begging her not worshipping a false idol?

It seemed she was not going to have time to ask questions. She felt the other part of her take over and lost control of her body. She smiled with an unhinged devotion and stared into Corvina’s searing eyes.

“Please may I have the drug, Sister Superior? I need it. I do not want to become a demon. I want to be with you forever, please, allow me to stay a nun.”

Corvina seemed satisfied enough and nodded. She uncorked the vial and held it under Leora’s nose. Leora’s eyes rolled back with pleasure and need. It took every ounce of willpower to not take the vial out of her Superior’s hands.

Instead, she simply opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out for Corvina to drop the drug onto.

“Good girl, Leora. Very obedient.”

Leora felt one drop, two, three. There. That was one more drop than she used to take and it would surely be enough to help fend off the Night inside her. She started to close her mouth, but Corvina gripped the tip of her tongue between her claws.

“We need to purify you of your filth. For that, I need your mind to fade into the dark.”

Corvina laughed and shivers ran down Leora’s spine. Shivers of both pleasure and fear. She felt another two drops hit her tongue and her eyes widened. She tried to speak her displeasure but the most she could manage were some pathetic whimpers and moans.

“Fade away, Leora. We do not need you here right now.”

Corvina released Leora’s tongue. Leora tried her hardest not to swallow; she had never had so much of the drug at once. She was afraid of what would happen if she faded into the dark.

Still, she swallowed. The drug hit her system within moments but she willed herself to stay awake. The potential consequences of fading away made her struggle just that much harder.

Corvina had a twisted smile on her face as she watched Leora struggle. Leora’s mouth hung open, her eyes half lidded. The increased dosage was affecting her in different ways than before. She was forgetting things that had happened just moments prior, the fear and fight becoming a distant memory.

She looked to Corvina for help remembering.

“Am I not so kind to make you feel so good, Leora? You want to feel this way.”

Leora nodded sleepily in agreement. “Yes. I want to feel this way.” Her words slurred and her voice was soft and meek. Corvina was just so smart.

“Good girl.” She laid Leora’s head on her lap.

Leora looked up at her Superior and started slipping.

“You are safe with me, child. You feel safe with me. It is okay to just fade into the black for a while. Let the darkness cleanse your sins.”

Corvina pet the girl’s hair gently. A voice inside Leora’s head screamed for her to fight but she was so tired. Her thoughts were filled with a dark black sticky fluid that felt like bliss.

“Good night, Leora.”

Leora made a small sound in response and fell into the dark.