Chapter 4

Later that same afternoon, Ed Hill stood before Lorraine Holzman's apartment door. Almost immediately after she left, he had called a friend to take over for him at the garage. He had traced her by using the address on the charge card. She lived close to Beverly Hills, an area somewhat unfamiliar to him, and the posh extravagance of her apartment building made him feel out of place. He knocked at the door. After a moment, he saw the peephole cover swing back.

"Who is it?" a voice asked.

"It's Ed Hill, from the Oilways Station. You forgot your charge card."

There was a short pause, during which Ed could hear the locks of the door being clicked open. The door swung wide.

Lorraine was dressed in clinging jersey tunic that seemed to hug her skin, revealing every voluptuous curve of her ripe body.

"Well," she said, arching her eyebrows. "what a surprise to see you. Come on in."

Ed moved in to her apartment, trying to cover his apprehension and sense of embarrassment at being there.

After all, he thought, I'm a married man! What the hell am I doing in some strange girl's apartment? I must be going nuts!

Then he remembered his mission to unmask the hypocrisy behind the Sign of Vallus and he relaxed somewhat. He glanced around the apartment. He found himself in an L-shaped room painted white, with simple but apparently expensive Danish-modern furniture. There was a white furry shag rug that covered the floor wall to wall; the walls were hung with strange pictures, most of which appeared to be by hand. They were pictures of demons or scenes of medieval torture.

"I did those myself," Lorraine offered, seeing his rapt attention. "What do you think?"

"Well," he said, "they're nice. Strange, though."

"Strange..." Lorraine repeated, laughing lightly, "yes, very strange..."

She glanced furtively at his tall, muscular body fully revealed in the tight, dirty work clothes. She felt a spasm of desire ripple through her body. She had no idea she would see this young man again, especially after their angry exchange at the gas station. But here he was, in her apartment!

"Now, what is it you want?" she asked.

Ed turned to her, and at the stunning sight of her exotic beauty fully exposed by the jersey tunic, he was at a loss for words.

"I... I... want to return this," he said, remembering the charge-card. "You forgot to wait for me to give it back to you."

"Oh!" Lorraine replied, delighted, "my God, you know I didn't realize! Thank you so much!"

She took the card from him, letting her fingers graze his hand ever so slightly, sending a shiver of warmth coursing through his body.

"I thought you'd need it," he said, trying to keep his mind clear.

"Is that all you came for?" she asked, her voice dropping to a low purr.

"Hell," he said, "to tell you the truth, there is something else."

"Oh? What?"

"That," he said, pointing to a long mirror that stood on one of the walls surrounded by small etchings. The top of the mirror was graced with a replica of the Vallus symbol.

"Oh," Lorraine said, "you want to know more about Vallus. Yes, I thought you would."

"What do you mean by that?" Ed asked.

"Whenever anyone sees that symbol, they're immediately attracted. That shows what an incredible power Vallus has over people. This isn't just some crazy cult, you know. This is the real thing."

"Ha!" Ed said, derogatorily, "I'll bet."

Lorraine squelched any anger she might have felt over his crude remark, and instead became the picture of warmth and helpfulness.

"Would you like a drink?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

"Scotch all right?"

"Yeah, fine."

She turned and moved to a kitchen alcove and began to mix the drinks.

"Sit down and make yourself comfortable," she said. "There's some written material on the group right on my coffee table if you want to glance through it."

Ed sprawled on the couch and picked up a couple of pamphlets, but before he opened them he let his eyes rove over Lorraine's supple body. Her back was to him, and he stared shamelessly at the rounded globes of her buttocks that shimmered provocatively as she moved.

Oh man he thought, would I like to get my hands on that ass! What a body!

At the sight of her, his penis stiffened inside his pants, in fact his genitals became suddenly warm and alive, and an erotic electricity began to throb through his body.

Easy, he thought to himself, take it easy.

A mental image of Marion flashed into his brain, and he forcibly tore his eyes away from Lorraine's body and focused on the books. The cover of one booklet had the same picture that hung in full relief in the outer office of the cult. It was the cat-demon, with the cornucopia exploding from his cock. Ed's jaw dropped open when he saw this bizarre illustration. He had never seen anything like it!

This makes those pictures on the wall look like nursery school stuff, he thought. Christ, what the hell goes on here?

At once fascinated and repelled, he glanced further into the pamphlet, his eyes caught phrases like "surrender of the ego..." "ancient Sumerian God..." and "Worship and Creatures of Darkness..." On the one hand it all seemed to confirm his belief that the Sign of Vallus was nothing more than hogwash; yet he felt more and more drawn to the strange pictures and text. There was definitely something there that almost overcame his skepticism--compelling, almost hypnotic force.

"Drink?"

It was Lorraine, holding out an amply filled glass of amber- colored scotch.

"Oh, sure," he said, taking the glass.

She sat down across from him with her own drink, revealing, as she did so, the full length of her long, tapering legs. Ed thought for a moment he could almost catch a glimpse of her pussy as she sat.

Holy God, he thought, she's not wearing any underwear at all under that little skirt. She must be naked as a jaybird.

This realization increased his feeling of sexuality. His crotch bulged excitedly. He felt a light film of nervous perspiration break out on his forehead and on the palms of his hands and his heart began to pound fiercely in his chest.

"Well," she said calmly, a trace of a smile playing across her lips. "what do you think of our little group?"

"Hell," he replied, "I don't know. To tell you the truth I've always thought these things were all fakes. But... well, maybe there's something in it."

"Oh, there's definitely something in it," she said with intense conviction. "Vallus changed my life, completely. Before I joined the group I was nothing more than a secretary a dull drab little girl with no excitement in my life. But now..."

Her eyes gazed steadily into his. Her stare seemed to burn into his brain with a frightening strength. He tried to break the gaze, to turn away, but couldn't! He found himself returning her open contact boldly, wantonly. His genitals throbbed excitedly. His whole body seemed to come alive.

"May I tell you something?" she continued.

"S... sure..." he said, feeling slightly dizzy from the strong drink and the look of her.

"From the minute I saw you I knew you should be a disciple of Vallus."

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I knew..." she said softly. Her eyes dropped shamelessly to his crotch. She stared at it openly with no hint of embarrassment Although Ed felt uncomfortable, it was also wildly exciting to have this luscious creature gaze at him so obscenely, so lewdly. This was something his wife would never have done; indeed he had never known any woman as brazen as Lorraine seemed to be. Suddenly, a flash of guilt washed through him as he thought of his wife, and he felt he should leave before anything further happened.

"I should go now..."

"So soon?" Lorraine said, scarcely concealing his disappointment. "We still have so much to talk about."

Ed rose.

"Well, maybe another time," he said.

Lorraine rose from her chair. Her jersey tunic seemed to be almost falling off her sleekly jutting breasts. Ed was sure that in another second her red-tipped nipples would be fully exposed. His breath came faster at the thought of it.

"It would be sooo nice if you stayed," she cooed.

"I want to... but... but..." he stammered.

"You have to get home to your wife?" she asked suddenly.

Ed was shocked, completely caught off guard.

"How... how did you know?"

Lorraine laughed lightly.

"Oh, that's easy. Your wedding band."

Ed fingered the gold band uneasily and tossed off the rest of his scotch.

"Yeah, well I should get back."

Lorraine moved closer to him; the sultry fragrance of her perfume was overpowering. It combined with the tingling effects of the scotch and made him dizzy. His vision was slightly blurred; all he could see was this ripe, nearly naked amazon body in front of him. She was an open invitation for screwing, radiating desire and lewd abandon.

"Look," she said, coming even closer, pressing her mammoth breasts lightly against his faded work-shirt, "I find you incredibly attractive... in fact you're probably the sexiest man I've ever met..."

Ed's heart pounded faster in his chest; his cock was straining madly against his work-grimed dungarees.

"And after all," she whispered, "no one will know about it if you want it that way. It'll be our little secret. Our wonderful, exciting secret..."

Ed wanted desperately to reach out and grab that ravishing, white flesh. He wanted to kiss this brazen redhead like he had never kissed a woman before in his life. Wildly, passionately. But something held him back, a lingering sense of guilt froze him into paralysis.

"Don't you want me?" she sighed, running her fingers lightly through his hair. "Don't you want to fuck me?"

This shocking remark completely broke through Ed's resistance. In an instant, he put down his empty glass.

"Oh, don't worry baby, I want you. And I want to fuck the living daylights out of you!"

"Then do it," Lorraine said, baring her perfect teeth in a radiant smile, "sink that big, beautiful prick of yours right up into me!"

"Christ!" Ed said. He grabbed her and embraced her tightly with arms thickly muscled from working hard at the garage. "Oh, baby!"

He kissed her deeply, shoving his hot, wet tongue far back into her mouth. Rather than draw back, she opened her mouth as wide as possible to admit his straining oral member and leaned forward, rubbing her pussy lewdly against his swiftly burgeoning cock. He explored every crevice of her mouth, mingling his tongue obscenely with hers, then letting his tip explore on its own. Their bodies pressed closer still.

Lorraine's hand roved quickly down between Ed's legs and fingered his thick, stiff penis, hot with need and desire and straining wildly against his grimy jeans. She massaged it madly until Ed could barely endure the tight little ball of desire now raging in his belly.