Page 21 of Where the Dark Knelt (Worshipped by Darkness #1)

I sat down on the edge of the bed, and he immediately leapt onto my lap with an eager little chirrup, pressing his forehead against my stomach until I stroked his silky ears.

His purr was a soft, rumbling comfort in the quiet room.

For a moment, I closed my eyes, resting my hand over his warm back, feeling the rhythm of his breath under my palm.

Then he turned to the box, sniffing it delicately before giving it a suspicious little paw tap. It seemed to bother him as much as it bothered me… although, truthfully, I had forgotten about the gift all day, busy with the garden, prayers, and the warmth of my sisters’ laughter.

I reached for the bow, untying the golden ribbon with ease. The box flipped open soundlessly on my lap, and Di slipped out from under my hand to settle beside me, his tail flicking with curiosity.

Inside the box was… another box. Wrapped identically in black paper with a golden bow.

I rolled my eyes, tsking under my breath. “What a joke,” I muttered, glancing down at Di. He tilted his head thoughtfully to one side, ears perked as if waiting for the next move.

With a sigh, I pulled the bow again. The second box slipped away to reveal… a third. Also black, also bound with a shimmering golden ribbon.

“Is this some kind of prank…?” I murmured to the cat, who only licked his paw in response. My heart fluttered in my chest with a strange mix of annoyance and anticipation.

Finally, on the third unwrapping, I found an oblong object tucked inside a soft black corduroy bag. My name was embroidered in gold thread along with a single letter: D.

My fingertips brushed across the velvet softness of the bag. Something inside it was heavy and warm from being in the room all day. Di leaned forward, sniffing it curiously before flicking his tail with a short, questioning meow.

I sat there for a moment, the weight of the bag in my lap, the quiet of the moonlit room pressing down around me like a held breath.

“What kind of game is this…?” I whispered into the darkness, feeling the ache of curiosity and fear bloom within me.

“What on earth...” I murmured, eyeing the elongated pouch with a furrowed brow.

As my fingers closed around the object within, a startling realization dawned.

It felt far too substantial, too... alive to be merely an oversized dildo.

With tentative motions, I loosened the drawstring, and out sprang an imposing, girthy length of silicone — undeniably a sex toy, but of a caliber I had never before beheld.

“Damn...” I breathed, my cheeks flushing hotly as I took in the sheer magnitude of the veined shaft.

It was unmistakably a dildo, albeit one of the most intimidating specimens I had ever laid eyes upon.

An accompanying note fluttered to the floor beside the hefty, textured toy, along with an array of lubricants and sex toy care products.

I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry as I lifted the note with trembling fingers. The message was scrawled in bold, confident script:

“This is for you, my sweet prey. Ride it to your heart’s content, as if it were my own perfect cock. Indulge in the orgasms that have long eluded you, until the day I make your darkest dreams a reality. Yours, with a promise of so much more to come...- D.”

The single, enigmatic letter seemed to pulse with the same sinful promise as the imposing phallus that lay beside it — a tangible symbol of the unspoken intentions.

My heart raced as I digested the implications, a thrill of fear and anticipation sending shivers down my spine.

This was no longer just a dream; it was a declaration, a wickedly tempting invitation to give myself over to the demon’s dark desires, one orgasm at a time.

“What’s going on here?!”

I clamped a hand over my mouth, startled by the sound of my own voice cutting through the quiet. Di bumped his head into my side insistently, crushing his soft paws against me as if to anchor me back to reality. His green eyes blinked up at me with gentle annoyance.

“I’m sorry… I know, I know,” I whispered shakily, stroking his ears. He purred and rubbed harder into my palm, clearly having missed me after the long days.

“It’s all so strange…” I muttered under my breath, staring at the gift on my lap. “There are letters everywhere, notes about my dreams… who would even know about them? Unless I… unless I was talking in my sleep? But that’s… that’s such a mean joke.”

I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes, feeling tears burn there from confusion and exhaustion. “Who would even do this? I don’t know anyone with that name. Dariana…?”

The thought of Sister Dariana floated through my mind. She had taken a vow of silence three years ago. She hadn’t spoken to anyone since, though she always listened with kind, solemn eyes. But why would she ever do something like this…?

“Some kind of stupid prank…?” I whispered. “But who would need all this… for what?”

Demetria came to mind next. She often disappeared during dinner, leaving her plate half-finished and her cup untouched. But imagining her sneaking into my room at night to eavesdrop on my sleeping words, just to give me… this… it didn’t make sense.

“All of them are women anyway…” I sighed, my face flushing hot with shame and confusion as I looked down at the corduroy bag again. “And then a dildo… shaped like a man’s... cock… What’s the point? It makes no sense.”

I shushed myself again, shaking my head to clear away the swirling, chaotic thoughts.

Carefully, I placed everything onto the bedside table, the black bag and gold ribbons whispering against the wood.

Then I peeled off my clothes, tossing them aside in a pile.

It was hot tonight. Too hot to bear even a cotton nightgown clinging to my skin.

I slipped under the thin linen sheet, curling onto my side, feeling the moonlight stroke across my bare shoulders.

Di pressed himself into the narrow space behind my back, his tiny body curled tight against the cold stone wall of the monastery.

He lay there like a small guardian, his warmth a shield between me and the unfeeling chill of the stone.

I closed my eyes, listening to his quiet purr drift into silence as sleep pulled him under. And in that silence, I tried to quiet my own thoughts, but the questions circled endlessly, like moths beating against the darkened windowpanes of my mind.

Chapter Thirteen

Eveline

Erotic dreams were taking over my body and mind more and more each night. The more I tried to resist them, to deny them, the faster they consumed me, wrapping around every sense until there was no space left to breathe or think clearly. My body craved release.

One morning, after yet another hot dream – a threesome again, with blondes this time…

or maybe it was always the same blonde, just multiplied like clones around me – I woke up gasping.

Their faces were a blur. They always were, slipping away like fog as soon as my eyes opened to the grey dawn.

But their touch, their mouths, the heat of their bodies pressed against mine… that lingered.

I tried to explain it to myself again and again.

Tried to rationalise why my brain was caught on this single image from the first dream, hooked so deeply that it kept replaying him, over and over, even when I couldn’t remember his exact face.

I searched for answers everywhere, in my own head, in whispered prayers before the altar, in quiet conversations with my sisters over herbal tea.

But of course, I never told them what the dreams were about.

How could I ever say such things out loud?

Erotic dreams… threesomes… obscene, indecent visions that had no place within these stone walls.

It was another morning, cool and dim, a cold breeze drifting in from the half-open window.

I shivered and pulled the thin blanket up to my chest. Di was gone again, probably out roaming wherever he pleased.

He always slipped away before dawn, returning only when he was hungry or in need of affection.

I sighed, staring at the silent, empty room.

Somehow it made me a little sad to know he had left before I woke up, but perhaps it was better this way.

Better that he hadn’t seen me like this…

my skin still flushed, thighs slick with the remnants of dreams that refused to leave me, mind clouded with memories I never asked for.

He was a free cat, anyway. Free to come and go. Free to live his little life beyond these monastery walls.

Unlike me.

Almost trance-like, my hand reached out and grasped the monumental dildo, marveling at the weight and texture.

I knew it was a grotesque indulgence, far too large for any sane person to entertain inserting inside their most intimate depths.

And yet, the throbbing ache between my thighs grew more insistent with each passing second, the demon’s dream-induced lust clouding my judgment.

I found myself admiring the way the silicone shaft pulsed with a mockery of life, the intricate veins etched along its length like a perverse work of art. Blushing at the depravity of it all, I nevertheless couldn’t tear my gaze away from the obscene beauty of that huge, throbbing cock.

Driven by a desperate need to alleviate the gnawing emptiness within my core, I dragged the swollen head of the dildo through my soaked folds, gathering the slick essence that flowed freely from my dream-tormented body.

I shuddered at the intimate touch, my hips rolling instinctively to grant the toy access to my dripping entrance.