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 strength 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.

"G-good morning..." she mumbled, unable to even turn and face him.

Her heart beating wildly, she reached her desk and sat down, resting her head and quietly praying for strength.

The day continued on without anything strange occurring. All of the classes were normal and went by simply. Sister Olivia was brutal as usual, though she did let Helena off with a warning when she caught her daydreaming. She had to wonder if Olivia was doing to out of the goodness of her heart or if the Headmaster had told her to go easy. Either way, the reprieve was nice. Xavier didn't say anything to her for the rest of the day, never even looked at her. What was going to happen?

Helena stood in the university school supplies store, looking at the plastic jewelry box with nervousness. Along with notebooks, pencils, and all manner of tools a student would need, the store sold rosaries and other religious talismans. The one that Helena was looking at was a medallion with the Triquetra symbol¬–the circle entwined into a three-sided loop, also known as the trinity knot. It was a Celtic take on the Holy Trinity, with the three corners representing the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Normally she would have gotten another crucifix for the one that Xavier destroyed, but she had to believe what he told her about it. It did make sense, the Antichrist would only grow stronger against the symbol of his enemy tortured and executed. If she was going to fend off this monster, she couldn't give him anything to use.

The only reason why she was hesitating to buy it was because of its origins. It was Celtic, deriving from her homeland and still popular there. She had long since abandoned her culture and her past. If she were to wear this, it would mean giving in to everything she had turned her back on when she left home.

'No, I can't let my feelings of home get in the way of this.'

She stormed over to the cashier and slammed the transparent box on the counter. "I'll take it."

Helena was lying in bed, reading the bible. She felt safe, each turn of the pages acting as like an audible pulse that shook away her worries. Hanging around her neck was her trinity necklace, the weight and shape it new to her when compared to her old crucifix, but comforting nonetheless. Nearby, Sophie was sitting at her dorm room desk, working on homework. A loud slam of her textbook told her that she had gotten it all done.

"Praise Christ, it's finished. Ugh, that was brutal!" she groaned while stretching.

"Yeah, Father Samuel doesn't make algebra any easier for us."

"I can't wait for the weekend, I need to decompress after all of this work."

For the first time since yesterday, Helena laughed. "You say that every week."

Their teeth brushed and alarm clock set, the two girls said their evening prayers and went to bed.

Of all things, it was an attempt to yawn that woke up Helena, and the realization that she couldn't open her mouth. Her eyes bolted open and she tried to sit up, but she couldn't move from her spot. She could feel threads against her skin, and as she tried to push herself up, these threads tightened. She had been sewn to the bed with hundreds of threads laced across her body, all as strong as steel. Even worse was the realization that her mouth had been stitched shut. With tears in her eyes, she tried to call out to Sophie, but her roommate ignored her. An ominous shadow appeared in the corner of the room and from it appeared Xavier. He wasn't wearing any clothes and he was erect. He slowly stepped towards Sophie, licking his lips in lustful hunger. Helena tried to scream, but only produced a shrill hum.

"Helena, can you keep it down?" her friend grumbled.

Leaning over her bed, Xavier grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. Shaken awake, Sophie screamed and flailed her limbs, but he held her tightly and climbed on top of her. Releasing her throat, he grabbed her wrists and held them up to the headboard. Appearing out of thin air, a pair of shackles locked on and handcuffed her to the bed. Her throat free, Sophie screamed as loud as she could, but her voice merely bounced off the walls of the room, as if they were inside a bank vault.

'Is he using he powers to keep her voice from escaping? Will anyone be able to hear her?' Helena thought.

"I just love that sound. Go ahead and keep screaming."

"Helena! Save me!"

"Oh, she can't help you. She's just here to watch as I turn you into a broken toy!"

Xavier then placed his hand on her legs and lines of black thread appeared as if growing from his palm. The threads wrapped around her ankles and bound them to the back of her thighs, then wrapped around her knees and pulled them apart, putting her on display. Xavier laughed to himself as he ran his hand across her body.

"I know this is Europe, but this "all natural" thing is a turn off."

He snapped his fingers and Helena closed her eyes, momentarily blinded by a bonfire of flames erupting from Sophie's bed. She could hear her blood-curdling screams and well imagine the pain she was going through, having gone through it herself. The flames vanished, revealing the bed and Sophie completely unharmed. Her clothes and every hair from the neck down had been burned away. While her skin was undamaged, she cried and moaned in pain, feeling like she had suffered third-degree burns.

"Why are you doing this?" she whimpered.

"Because it's just so easy."

Xavier held out his hand behind him and a large cross flew into his hand, having originally hung above the door. Chuckling sadistically, he turned it around in his hand, holding the short end so it was like a dagger. He pressed the other end against her vagina and Sophie began thrashing.

"No! Please! Anything but that!"

Ignoring her pleading and the resulting screams, Xavier forced the cross deep inside her, violating her with the symbol of her faith. Helena had never heard anyone cry like that, that mix of pain and humiliation. Oh god, was Xavier going to do that to her as well? There had to be something she could do, some way to help her friend! She pushed up against the threads tying her to the bed, but they dug into her skin like razor blades and stopped her just as soon as she started.

Xavier pulled the cross out and crouched down, watching the blood of her torn hymen dribble out. Laughing, he leaned forward and ran his tongue between the lips of her pussy, lapping up the blood as if it were honey. Helena watched in revulsion, sickened by this monster's depravity but not surprised. He was the Antichrist; of course he would have a thirst for her virgin blood. As he continued licking, Sophie's reaction changed. What Helena had thought to be sobs of pain were becoming pants of arousal, with tears continuing to pour from her eyes as she whimpered with each flick of his tongue. Between her legs, Xavier was playing her like a saxophone, licking up every sweet drop of her nectar and teasing her lips with his own, while his tongue slithered back and forth inside her. He moved up an inch and put all of his focus on her erect clitoris, stimulating her in ways she never thought possible. Sophie's small whimpers became shameful moans as he sucked on the small nub and twirled his tongue around it. He even began fingering her, sliding back and forth effortlessly with her sleeve becoming more and more slippery by the second.

Without even realizing it, Helena was no longer watching in horror, but in interest. She had heard about this kind of thing, "oral sex" as it was called. Did it really feel that good? No, no! She couldn't let herself be enticed by such horrific sins! How could she even think of such things while her friend was being raped! But she again relapsed as another scream was released, this one making her shiver. She had heard it before as a child, coming from her mom's room when she had visitors over. Had Sophie ... just had an orgasm? Sophie certainly thought so, as she was trying to cover her face while crying fresh tears.

Xavier sat up and laughed. "Why are you crying? You have no need to feel shame. You are nothing more than an animal after all; a lowly, pathetic creature that spends its existence searching for pleasure. God isn't here to judge you, so reveal your true nature and enjoy this."

Continuing to chuckle, he leaned down and began sucking on her breasts, again making her whimper from unwanted sexual bliss. He moved back and forth, painting the succulent hills with his tongue, then securing his lips around her nipples and pulling upwards.

"You're skin is so soft, Sophie. It's only right that I taste it."

His head then darted forward and he joined his lips with hers. She tried to resist him, squirming and turning her face from side to side, but he grabbed the back of her head and stopped her. He immediately infiltrated her with his tongue, licking every corner of her mouth. This was her first kiss, let alone French. When she didn't reciprocate, Xavier grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed brutally hard, making her scream until at last giving in. It was a half-assed attempt, but she began kissing him back, even sending her tongue into his mouth. All the while Helena watched them, and once or twice, she shuddered as he would look directly at her, staring into her eyes.

He sat back up and kneeled between her spread legs, resting his cock on the lips of her pussy.

"Please, God..." she cried.

"You think God will help you? You're wrong. Nobody can help you. Nobody can save you. I am going to take you now and nothing will stop me. Your God isn't here."

Guiding the head between the lips, he grabbed her waist and forced himself into her. Sophie cried out in physical and emotional agony, but not as loud as when he violated her with the cross. She could feel him inside her, his manhood barreling inside her untouched slit. He buried himself inside her up to the base, pulled out, and then slammed into her again. With centuries of practice, he got into his well-used rhythm and began thrusting like a rodeo bull, slamming against the entrance to her womb with enough force to make her cry. He leaned over, supporting himself with arms.

Sophie refused to look at him, feeling his hot breath on her face. "Helena..." she begged, turning to her friend.

Helena could do nothing but watch as her friend was raped without mercy, Xavier using her body as his own personal sex toy. She cried with her, unable to even open her mouth and say something. It went on like that for another fifteen minutes, Xavier never having to catch his breath. At last he stopped, shivering with a savage grin on his face and making Sophie whimper in shame.