Chapter Text
The soft scuff of shoes against marble and the rustling of light cotton skirts were the only sounds in the chapel as a group of the Ministry's sisters approached the communion table.
"Body of Christ," the clergyman declared as he placed the Eucharist upon the tongue of the first woman queuing before him.
"I devour and desecrate," she replied and together they spoke the closing, "Nema."
The twelve women behind her followed routinely and made their way from the chapel. In order of descending age they received unholy communion. Some accepted it quickly, a chore to be got over. Others gazed up longingly from beneath glossy lashes to the clergyman, wanton and suggestive.
For his part, he was passive, revealing neither censure nor encouragement to his parishioners. Eventually, the last of the group ascended the steps and presented herself with a bright smile. She had newly been made a novitiate of the church, having been a student of the religious academy prior to her admittance.
Her master poorly suppressed a smile in return and raised the wafer to her lips.
“Body of Christ,” he repeated.
Her wide eyes beamed up at him in happiness as she accepted his offering. It was her first unholy communion following her change in status, and her excitement was palpable.
“I devour and desecrate.” She gave a small nod as they joined in, “Nema.” She moved swiftly to fall in line behind her elders.
The smile he had repressed began to spread over the Cardinal's face and altered into an expression altogether insidious. He gazed after the youngest sister as he slid a wafer between his lips.
"I devour."
———
The most junior member of the sisters was commonly given the most distasteful tasks. It was no exception in the case of Lara, or Sister Lucia, as the Cardinal had styled her. After her first week, her new title remained slow to impress upon her, and the elder sisters often shouted it before her attention piqued.
It was shouted again as she folded mounds of laundry in the basement. She looked up to see Sister Dominus trying to get her attention.
Sister Lucia bowed her head.
"Forgive me, sister. I am not used to my name," she said quietly.
"It took me a few months to get my mind around it," Sister Dominus admitted as she laid a comforting hand on Lucia's shoulder. "I will continue here, Mother Perfidia wants you to finish washing the sheets."
Dominus flashed her an expression of pity. Mother Perfidia liked the sheets washed in a vat by hand. They often required bleaching and then they were individually hung out to dry. It was the most time consuming and laborious of all daily chores. Perfect for the most junior member.
Lucia grinned and made her way as cheerfully as she could muster to the washroom where the sheets awaited. It was not a mountain of work, but she would likely be late to that night's dinner.
She began filling the vat with water and shifting the sheets in with a wooden paddle. The water was hot on her hands, leaving them red, and when they had the opportunity to dry, they cracked. Her grip on the stirring paddle was strained because while some areas of her palms had calloused, others had not. She scattered the bleach over the laundry and felt some of it mix with water and seep into the cracks on her hands.
Lucia gazed at her hand, wondering at the origin of the pain. Which scratch in her skin was the culprit? Within seconds, the sting subsided. She continued her chores inside until the time came to hang the sheets out.
It was a breezy, temperate day and she was pleased that at least this task afforded her time out of doors. She hung the largest items first, shaking pillowcases back into her basket. With five sheets tacked up, she knelt down for another.
As she pulled it free from her basket a great red shadow enveloped her from behind. It loomed long before her and she turned quickly around in surprise.
"Your Eminence," she sighed in relief, "A pleasure to see you, as always. To what do I owe the honor?"
A low chuckle escaped him.
"Why Sister Lucia, I visit to see how the newest member of the Ministry gets on in her duties. It is hard work, but you do not seem deterred."
"No, I am happy to be useful," she told him and brushed a few golden hairs back from her face. She realized she had removed her veil in the heat and she snatched it up again.
The Cardinal bent and stayed her hands.
"It is not required to wear your veil in my presence or at all. The other sisters wear theirs in the spirit of unholy mockery, but this does not suit you."
Lucia's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't want to stand out."
"Our Dark Father is the annihilator of conformity," he replied, squeezing her hands gently. "In his honor, I encourage you to cast it away."
She let the veil slip from her fingers and onto the ground. The Cardinal cast a gloved hand over her hair. It was a light, approving gesture. The hand that still held Lucia's caressed the dry, raw skin he found there.
The leather of his gloves was soft and she comforted in his presence.
"I must continue my rounds, Sister Lucia. Perhaps after dinner, you will visit with me in my office and we will discuss your first week in the sisterhood, yes?" He closed both of his hands around hers once more.
Lucia's face lit up in ecstacy. "Yes, Eminence. If you would have time for me, I would be ever so grateful."
He gave her head a small pat and then entered the cathedral. The Cardinal paused and turned back once he was inside. Half-concealed at the doorway, he observed Sister Lucia.
She picked up her veil and stuffed it into her apron pocket. Then she continued her task while humming a cheerful tune.
The Cardinal was often struck by whatever twist of fate had brought her to his Ministry's door. It was not often that newborns were left on the steps of a church of Satan. So many a parishioner came to the church out of desperation or rebellion, but Lara had been brought up in Satan's teachings. Over eighteen years had passed since Mother Perfidia found her on their doorstep.
Lara was a living testament of Lucifer's compassion and acceptance toward humanity. Always quick with a smile and a kind word, the light of the Morning Star shone bright within her. It was exceptionally easy to style her as Sister Lucia during her novitiation ceremony. She was not a reckless sinner, nor did she steep herself in the darker aspects of her faith.
During her matriculation ritual from the academy, she had hesitated when sacrificing a dove. Hidden from view, the Cardinal had placed his hand over hers on the athamé and completed the deed for her. He then applied the blood of the bird to her bare chest in the shape of a pentagram. The ritual was concluded by the graduates performing a dance beneath the midnight bloodmoon.
Lara was the only student to join the church following her completed studies. She had told the Cardinal of her decision when she came to thank him privately for assisting with her sacrifice. This daughter of Lucifer, whom he had seen rise from babe to maturity, revealed her concerns about her devotion. She was candid and pure.
He listened to her fears, preparing words to assuage them. Yet whenever his eyes fell on her he recalled his fingers drawing across her breastbone. He felt the rush of warm blood from the dove coating their intertwined fingers. Her gaze of unbridled admiration once she realized what he had done for her. The white flesh of her body under a red moon. Perfect as if cast in porcelain by the Old One himself.
The Cardinal drew himself out of his reverie. He was still concealed just inside the doorway, watching Sister Lucia hang bedding. He drew an exasperated hand over his face and continued on with his daily rounds.
———
Sister Lucia finished her tasks outside and gathered up her basket. Sister Dominus was rolling in a cart of linens to be washed.
"From the Cardinal's room. Take extra care with these," Dominus said with a wink and breezed by to continue her own work.
The fabric was a vibrant blood red damask. It would need to be cared for separately from the remainder of linens. Lucia gathered the fabric up and immediately the scent of sweat and sex permeated her senses. It was followed by the wood and bergamot scent of the Cardinal himself. She swiftly dropped the items in the vat. A pillowcase was left at the bottom of the cart and she found it only smelled of him. Lucia stroked the delicate fabric for a few moments before tossing it in as well.
She wondered momentarily who had assisted the Cardinal in dirtying the sheets, but it could have been anyone in the clergy. For all she knew it was everyone in the clergy.
"Do as thou wilt," she had been told since before she could recall. Her will had not yet driven her toward physical pleasures. The other students had taken rampant interest in random sexual encounters and clandestinely arranged orgies. Though she had often attended such outings, she had not participated.
She had first communed with Lucifer to request his guidance and he had explained that her limbs would grow strong and bear exquisite fruit… however she would need to be patient. He had added that purity was a sweet perfume, which would draw to her in the fullness of time a most deviant consort. After awakening from her communion dream, she longed to tell her roommate. Telltale creaking of the bed across the room told her it was not the time to interrupt.
Without moving, Lara had shifted her eyes curiously toward her roommate's bed. Light reflected off of the mask of a ghoul in the moonlight. The hollow darkness of his eyes stared directly toward her as his hips bucked wildly into the girl beneath him. She had turned sharply away, holding a small gasp inside with a hand over her mouth.
When they had finished, Lara heard footsteps approaching her bed. With her eyes clamped shut in mock sleep, she felt hair being lifted away from her neck. Cool metal rested against her throat and she heard a heavy intake of breath. A moment passed then a warm and wet pressure flicked from the base of her throat to beneath her jaw. When she turned to strike at him, he was gone.
The following morning, she had asked her roommate which ghoul she had been with, in the hope of avoiding him. Her roommate, ever the dedicated sinner, could not remember.
Sister Lucia recalled these events as she worked the Cardinal's sheets into a lather. When she rinsed them, the water never quite ran clear.
She managed to complete her duties fifteen minutes before the dinner bell was due to ring, and rushed to the showers to rinse herself of sweat and soiled sheets. Her blonde hair was damp wet when she returned to her room to change. She instinctively pulled a veil from her chest of drawers and only stopped herself as it touched her head.
The Cardinal's words about conformity resounded in her mind. He was so kind to her. Ever her teacher and shepherd. A father and friendly companion. In the time before his ascension, Lara frequently sought him out. Three years had passed since he had become a Cardinal, and during those years Lara saw him less and less because of his new duties. It saddened her, but she appreciated the time she was able to spend with him all the more for it.
The veil was put away and she brushed out her hair before heading to dinner.
Her sisters quickly noticed her lack of veil and flashed appraising smiles at one another. Sister Lucia sat beside Sister Dominus and bowed her head.
"Are you forgetting something?" Dominus asked her softly.
Sister Lucia's eyes flicked over to her. She swallowed and said more confidently than she felt, "I've decided not to wear it."
Sister Dominus gave an exaggerated glance down the table of thirteen sisters.
"We all wear them in blasphemous mockery…" Dominus began.
"Lucifer is the annihilator of conformity," Sister Lucia countered before she could stop herself. "I choose not to conform and wish for the support of my sisters." Her last phrase was louder than her first and while some sisters scoffed, others looked on with admiration.
Murmured conversation continued throughout the dining hall.
Dominus gave a small, proud grin to her companion. "This may be the only rebellious act I've ever seen from you." She stroked a lock of Lucia's hair. "I don't know if the greater sin is to flaunt this beauty… or hide it."
Lucia's cheeks grew pink and she stared down toward her lap.
A clatter from the front of the room and the creaking of hinges signaled that the Cardinal was entering. Everyone stood until he recited a short prayer to the Dark Lord and took his seat. The meal was then laid out before them. Lucia counted herself lucky that it was the brothers of the clergy's night to prepare dinner. On the sister's nights she was always one of the six on duty, no matter how difficult her prior tasks.
She chatted distractedly with Sister Dominus, and found she could eat but little. Her glass of red wine sat barely touched. Every so often, she would glance toward the Cardinal. The few times he matched her gaze, he nodded minutely in recognition. Dinner dragged and she found herself evermore in need of speaking with His Eminence. The work, no matter how daunting, had done nothing to lower her spirit. However, she had other doubts.
When the Cardinal was finished, he rose and retreated through the large wooden door that separated his sacristy and office from the rest of the church. Lucia waited for a few others to leave before excusing herself as "too tired to be any fun."
She exited the dining hall and walked around to the public entrance to the Cardinal's office. Her knuckles softly rapped the door.
After a pause, she heard him call, "A few minutes, child. I have received an urgent message."
Lucia perched on the bench just outside his office and picked at her nails. She closed her eyes for only a few moments and relaxed. When she opened them again she discovered two empty sockets peering directly at her, meer inches away.
She shot up from her seat and the ghoul followed in perfect sync. Slowly, he continued to stand to his full height and towered over her.
"Be about your business," she told him firmly.
He leaned closer and brought a hand toward her face. His head tilted curiously and his fingers touched her cheek. Her jaw clenched as he drew his thumb gently across her bottom lip.
Lucia put a stiff hand against his chest and harshly repeated, "Be about your business." If her actions had any effect, she saw no indication of it.
Suddenly the Cardinal's door opened and he surveyed the pair outside his office. His vestments were removed and he was wearing a white suit.
"Feeling homesick?" The Cardinal asked as he placed his hand on the ghoul's outstretched forearm. "You'll be hurtling into the Pit faster than thought or time if you're not out of my sight this instant."
The ghoul scrambled back immediately
and took off down the hallway, glancing back as he turned the corner.
"Thank you, Your Eminence. He was trying to give me a fright. You know how they can be." Lucia tried to smile, but conjured only a nervous laugh.
"A nuisance, the lot of them. But useful when it serves," he replied. "Come in, sister. Stay awhile and talk with me."
She entered his office and quickly sat in a plush chair opposite his desk. The room was richly decorated in fine antiques whose purpose she could only guess at. Instruments that she recognized, but did not know the names of lined the walls. Perhaps one day she would ask him.
The Cardinal took his seat and crossed his hands neatly in his lap.
"How does our ingénue fare in her new role?" He wondered, crossing a leg over his knee.
Lucia's mouth opened to answer, but nothing came out. Neither words nor breath passed her lips for several moments until she emitted a heavy sigh.
The Cardinal leaned forward in concern. "Have the sister's been unkind to you? Mistreated you?" He questioned.
Lucia shook her head. Heat radiated from her face and she hid herself in her hands.
Gloved fingers gingerly peeled one hand away and she saw the Cardinal sitting on the corner of his desk, holding her hand.
"Daughter of Sin, reveal your worries, and we'll conquer them together."
"I am…" She began and paused. "I have doubt inside me."
"Doubt is the first step toward wisdom. Without it, we would be sheep," he reasoned.
"Yes, but I have doubts that I can fulfill my duties." She clutched his hand tightly, feeling slightly stronger in his presence.
The Cardinal sighed. "Is this about the sacrifice at your matriculation ritual?"
"In part, but I have also been doubting my place in the Dark Father's plan. Other sisters seem to have so easily come by their devotions to sin. Sister Dominus told me that Lucifer visited her in a dream when she was thirteen and asked her to revel in the pleasures of the flesh. Mother Perfidia was visited at twelve and He instructed her to reign vengeance on all those she saw deserving. They say those were the only times they communed with him."
He nodded. "It is usual that He calls His children to Him in adolescence and never again. Others are visited a few times."
Lucia grew quiet and looked away from him.
"What is it?" He breathed, and drew her chin up so that she stared at him.
"He has communed with me several nights a week for the last three years. I haven't told you because I've been worried there is something wrong with me." Her voice shook as she told him.
The Cardinal mask of benevolence faltered into a frown. "What did you say?"
"One night, three years ago, I reached out to Him and He appeared in my dreams. I asked Him why I was not like the others and He instructed me to be patient. The next night He came again and showed me strange things," she paused to collect herself and ran her fingers through her hair.
The Cardinal longed to run his fingers along the same path. He swallowed and nodded.
"What strange things?"
"Horrible things. A dark chapel I've never seen and a child—an infant being sacrificed on an altar. There are two figures in darkness on either side of the child, but I can never see their faces. He stands beside me and stares at the baby being eviscerated. It is not His way to harm children, but He shows me this often, sometimes multiple times a week. There are others, but not as frequent." Frustrated tears threatened to trickle from her eyes.
"I feel that He is trying to teach me something and after all this time, I'm too stupid to understand." Lucia's palm slammed down on her knee desperately. She willed herself not to cry. "What if He grows weary and abandons me? My faith must be weak." She whispered, a tear finally escaping down her cheek.
The Cardinal sank to his knees before her and placed her face in his hands. "He will never abandon you. He is all patience and persistence. Until the end of days, He will be beside you and within you. As for his portents, there is infinite interpretation and the patience He has charged you with will reveal your answers."
Lucia rested her hands over his. "For all this wait, I wish I had something to hold on to." Her eyes closed and she settled into his touch.
His chest was against her knees and he drew in a sharp, shaking breath. He continued to stroke her face, unwilling to relinquish his hold. Her skin was pale and flawless, her lips cherubic and rosy. Lascivious and artful ideas began to weave in his mind. Suddenly, his hands stilled.
"The Dark Father has entrusted me with a gift for you," the Cardinal said softly.
Warm, wide eyes flashed open at him.
"He hasn't," Lucia answered, disbelieving.
"Not for someone as simple as me."
The Cardinal nodded, his face reassuring.
"It seemed a mistake when He made the request, but now you are here, seeking out His embrace and it is clear to me," he began, knitting lies as quickly as they fell from his lips.
Trust flooded back into the eyes of the young woman before him.
"You're certain?" She asked. He heard tones of hope in her little question.
"Yes, entirely so. It was obscene to have considered it before He visited me, but now I understand His intentions," he lied marvellously.
Her chapped, yet dainty hands clutched his own in desperation. "What is this gift, and don't say more patience," she joked without mirth.
"Our Father, the Most Infernal Tempter, has charged me with bestowing upon you His Dark Kiss."
Lucia's breathing stopped altogether. Her grip on his hands loosened and her eyes shifted to the floor. The Cardinal caressed her face gently.
"It is not what you expected?" He asked.
Green eyes full of apprehension glanced up at him, the very picture of innocence.
"More than I expected. I'm unworthy." She shook her head.
"The Dark Lord believes that you are, as do I." He grinned at her. "It will not be like any kiss you received from a boy at the academy."
Lucia's face flushed crimson. Her fingers smoothed over her lips.
"I've never had any kisses, Your Eminence," she admitted.
His gloved hand came to rest on her lips, so delicate a touch it nearly tickled. The Cardinal's face grew serious and his hand moved to firmly cradle her jaw.
"The Kiss of the Most Lascivious is not intended for these lips," he whispered as he brought his mouth within a hair's breadth of hers. His unoccupied hand stroked from her knee to inner thigh. He bowed over her and moved to speak wickedly into her ear, "It is a craven, lustful gift that I must give you on my knees."
Rapid little breaths fluttered out of the young woman beneath him and her fingers held fast to the hand resting at the inside of her thigh.
"It is only your gift if you accept it, my child of sin," he assured her.
Lucia brushed her cheek against his, she felt his breath hot in her ear. He was still, waiting for her to spring the trap.
"You honor me and I…" she choked out.
He pressed his lips against her ear and near wordlessly panted, "Let me worship you."
A small gasp escaped her and he felt her nod.
"Yes?"
A soft, bashful sound of consent came out of her.
"Good, good," the Cardinal chuckled in delight as he sank backward onto his knees. His right hand reached for her ankle and languidly traced upward beneath her habit. The fabric gathered and revealed lily white stockings. He began folding her skirt up passed her knees, passed her thighs.
When her garters came into view, he thought he might come undone. He pulled at them playfully, smiling up at her.
She returned a weak smile of her own, but did not trust herself to speak. She trembled before him.
A sharp gasp suddenly rang out from her as he took the elastic of the garter between his teeth and snapped it at her. He then placed a gentle kiss on the offended skin.
He took hold of her hips and firmly pulled her toward him in her seat. She laid her forearm over her eyes.
"Look at me, you must bear witness, yes?" He instructed, nodding.
She obeyed and nodded.
"My obedient child," he praised and kissed the inside of her thigh. "Brightest Light of the Morning Star," he muttered and kissed the other.
Then his mouth was over her, exhaling fevered breath through the fabric there. Her back arched instantly and her hand flew to cover her eyes. He heaved another breath and had to prevent her from slipping out of her seat completely.
"Look at me!" He ordered dangerously and she complied immediately. She stared into his all at once maddened and jarring eyes. He reached into the jacket of his white suit and produced a small stiletto. He drew it carefully beneath the fabric covering her and with two swift slashes it fell away.
A shameless exclamation of joy and lust rolled forth from his throat. He pointed the knife up at her and knew he had her undivided attention.
"Do you touch yourself, little one?" He asked, his voice dark.
She nodded once.
"What is in your thoughts when you do?" He tapped the tip of the blade on her garter belt. "Do not lie to your Cardinal, hmm?"
"The rituals I've attended," she managed to whimper. "Watching others during…"
"Watching them fuck each other," he finished for her.
She nodded once again.
"Yes? Good." He returned the stiletto to his jacket absently. "Well, I think after this night, when you are in your bed and reach down between your legs for pleasure… you will only think of me."
He jerked her closer again and her calves laid against his back. Her right hand desperately sought his left and they laced tightly together. His other arm held her securely in place. Without breaking her gaze, he brought his lips against her heat in the guise of a chaste kiss.
Lucia's head fell back before she remembered to look at him. He remained in the same position, mouth closed and unmoving until she began to shift toward him. She didn't know quite what to expect, but she was certain she wanted it. Her wariness waned and a warm, beating pulse of want surged in its place.
Could he sense the fire that she felt deep down? She wondered.
Then his tongue stroked fluidly from the base of her slit upward toward her sweetest spot.
She nearly screamed. The hand that was gripping the arm of the chair moved to fist in his hair. The one entwined with the Cardinal's flexed wildly. He felt her heels dug into his back.
He shifted his shoulders and her thighs parted further for him. Again he smoothed his tongue over her slick, delicate skin. He felt her every muscle tremble with the slow and measured strokes he laved against her. Lithe hips bucked at him and the grip in his hair tightened.
A wicked growl rose out of him, rumbling against her. He drew her bundle of nerves between his lips and beat the tip of his tongue against it in a merciless rhythm.
"Oh… fuck…" she breathed as her pleasure mounted and tension knit low in her stomach.
With a tender flick of his nose against her swollen bud he removed his mouth from her. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and made a display of savoring the wetness he found there.
The hand in his hair smoothed over his cheek in supplication.
"Please… please… " she cried helplessly.
"Child."
He kissed her inner thigh lightly.
"Sister."
He added another kiss.
"Bride of sin."
He lapped at her deftly once and she keened.
"Such pure lust from such a delicate creature. A glutton for a tongue-fucking. Yes?" He questioned.
The Cardinal's hand slid from her grip and he traced it over the lace belt across her stomach.
"Yes, Eminence. I'm a sinner, a glutton. I want to feel you. I want to feel good," she replied in an intoxicating rasp.
Her legs writhed over his back and shoulders.
"How good? Tell me what you want. Ask for it, Lara," he instructed.
His use of her real name tore away the last of her reservations.
"I want you to fuck me with your mouth until I cum so hard I forget my name."
His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in surprise. He was not sure he had ever heard a phrase as beautiful and decadent. His hips rolled forward, providing nothing but a realization that he was achingly erect.
"Thy will be done."
He was instantly upon her once more. His mouth was opened wide over her cunt as he thrust his tongue as deeply into her as he was able. She sank her fingers deep into the hair on either side of his head and crushed him ever closer. He grunted and continued undeterred.
After a few moments of this he shifted to brush his tongue leisurely over her clit. Again and again Lucia recognized the erratic but mounting sensation that brought her closer to bliss. Her hips moved more insistently against him and his torturous pace began to increase.
"Ah… I can feel it," she cried, "I'm so fucking close…"
The Cardinal stared up at her from his place between her legs and nodded. A rapt moan vibrated against her and he began pounding his tongue frantically into the underside of her clit.
He pressed her down with a hand on her stomach as she began to shake and cry out to him.
Her eyes clenched shut as she felt her body careening toward orgasm.
"Fuck, I'm close…" she hissed through gritted teeth.
He snapped her garter and her eyes shot open. She met his gaze and suddenly she was there. She came in glorious waves, the pleasure infinitely more intense than any she had served herself. Her cunt pulsed and her cries grew breathy and choked with desire.
The Cardinal continued as her body involuntarily jerked against him. He felt the tremors within her, and was quick to imagine feeling them around his cock. Her strangled little exclamations spurred him on.
Lucia's body descended from its peak and yet the Cardinal did not stop his attentions. She keenly felt the almost painfully sensitive flesh as it was wildly assaulted.
"Please, it's too much," she whimpered and attempted to pull him away.
He tore one of her hands from his hair and held it firmly aloft. She tightened her free hand in his hair as hard as she could as the sensitivity grew into a white hot pain.
Then she was crashing from an aftershock of orgasm she hadn't realized was coming. The pain turned into absolute perfection. She wailed and fell limp into the chair. Her grip relaxed and fell from the Cardinal's hair as the last remnants of release faded.
The Cardinal massaged his scalp where she had clung to him. Hair pulling was a prickling pain he had enjoyed on several occasions.
Lucia kept her eyes closed and panted with her head tilted toward the ceiling. Her legs shifted from his shoulders to the ground on either side. The Cardinal followed the rise and fall of her breast with his eyes as she collected herself. Would he have the pleasure of drawing his fingers across that delicate skin once more?
He reached for her waist and gently maneuvered her forward.
"Come here to me," he said. It was more of a soft request than an order.
She drifted down to him, her face flushed with more than satisfaction. Her knees were firmly planted on either side of his thighs. It was clear that embarrassment or shame was welling up inside her as she stared down at the embroidery on his jacket.
"Do you know what I regret about what I've just done?" He asked her very sternly.
Lucia somehow shrunk more into herself.
"No, Your Eminence," she whimpered.
"That I should've been doing it every night since the bloodmoon ritual," he admitted. His hands found her hips and he moved himself upward against her. "Lucifer has bestowed so much of his love onto you. There was something of the witch about you that night, and it has been with you since then. You have taunted me in the most deviant dreams." He bucked upward again and took her face in both hands.
She finally looked up at him and curled her fingers into his jacket.
"Imagine your Cardinal fucking his hand like a school boy for the past three months while thinking of you."
She inhaled sharply at his admittance.
He started to grind against her in a slow rhythm. Her heat pressed against him through the fabric and the friction was able to have him fully hard in moments.
"I have coveted you, little sister. Longed for you," he revealed and pulled her close against his chest. Lucia's head rested under his chin.
The Cardinal felt a tentative hand moving down between them. In the most tender manner she could, Lucia stroked him with her hand.
"That is one of the powers the Tempter created inside you," he rasped.
Lucia glanced up and raised an eyebrow at him.
"You can turn a man into a beast," he growled and gripped her fiercely. His thrusts became brutal and erratic.
She threw her arms around his neck and held tight.
"I wanted to fuck you in that field," he rasped into her ear. "In front of the entire congregation while they danced. Would you have let me, little one?"
She drew back and gazed into his eyes. His pace slowed as she traced his face with her fingertips.
"Yes. Until the morning swallowed the moon. But no more nonsense about gifts from Lucifer. Do you really think I'm that gullible?"
He shook his head. "No, but it set the mood quite well. Now will you let me have you, Lara?"
Her fingers rested on his lips after the question left them.
"Yes, Giac. Now," she answered and moved up to kiss him.
The office phone rang shrilly through the tense atmosphere and the Cardinal glared in its direction. Lucia dropped her forehead against his chest and bit her lip to hold in a chuckle.
"It'll be over in a moment," he assured her.
It rang five times and fell silent.
"Where were we?" He asked as she moved to kiss him again. "Ah, ye-"
The phone rang anew.
"LUCIFER, FUCK!" The Cardinal shouted in frustration. He shuffled backward and still on his knees, reached across the desk to pick up the receiver.
"Yes?" He asked immediately in an authoritative tone that did not belie his annoyance.
Lucia watched him nod as the other party spoke.
"I did, and what of it?" He continued.
Whatever he heard next drained all color from his face. He pulled himself up to his feet and steadied himself on the desk. His free hand covered his mouth and drew down to hold his chin. This look of defeat surely did not portend good news.
"And you are certain that you heard this correctly?" He asked and listened to the response. "No, don't make yourself known. Continue as if they had never left, I don't want you drawing suspicion. You've done well, I must go and make arrangements."
He held the receiver above the hook and let it fall with a clang.
"Fuck…" he huffed and began scanning the room desperately.
"Eminence, what's happened?" Lucia wondered, finally rising from the floor.
"Forgive me. This interlude will need to be postponed. It seems that His Unholiness is on his way to visit us now."