Chapter 1

There was an annoying pattern of flickering spots destroying Rebecca's field of vision in the shadowy underground chamber. She was not certain if it was real or some creation of her overactive mind. The damp cavern was scary enough to make her want to call it a day and wait for the power to be restored. The flickering light of the oil lanterns made it extremely difficult to decipher the wall carvings recently unearthed.

She was totally unaware of how her buttocks were twitching about as she bent to the task at hand.

Rudy her devoted second in command was not paying much attention to the drawings because he was perusing the shapely heart-shaped bottom directly in front of his face. They were both on their hands and knees in the narrow, low-ceilinged chamber and would have to leave shortly because of lack of sufficient oxygen to finish the translation.

Rebecca began to worry that she had misinterpreted the meaning of the clues to the location of the dig and that they were in the wrong place. There were some similarities to the right target date but it was beginning to look like these drawings were inscripted much later and perhaps "salted" to mislead searchers like herself in their quest for ancient temple of the moon goddess.

She knew Rudy was shamelessly ogling her bum but she didn't really mind because she knew he was totally harmless and easy to handle. The close quarters made them physically attuned to each other's bodies and she was readily agreeable with his invasion of her "comfort zone" in the furtherance of the project.

She wished her father was present on the site because he had a firm handle on the different languages of the era and was much better versed in such things than either she or Rudy. They both heard the rumble at the same time and looked at each other afraid to ask the question. It was unmistakably an earth tremor of some sort, hopefully not a full-blown quake but just a simple settling of the plates running under the nearby hills.

The ruin of the old Roman villa above them was reputed to be haunted and in point of fact the entire edifice was pock-marked with the vestiges of time immemorial including some damage sustained during the Second World War.

The partially demolished Roman Villa was not considered to be of any archeological importance but Rebecca had a hunch that the caverns situated below were a key to the missing temple and perhaps could shed light on the mystifying disappearance of the entire cult of vestal virgins from Roman History.

In some circles of Academia, the temple and the cult were considered just a sidelight to the era and no more influential than a symbolic substitute for prostitution in the upper classes.

The circular stairway down to the tombs was decorated with intricate designs. They strangely looked more Greek than Roman and the figures were obviously engaged in various forms of coitus straight from the pages of the "Kama Sutra". Rebecca was particularly intrigued by the altar-like platform in the center of the cavern that was scooped out in the center with little scuppers that made it resemble the sacrificial platforms of the Aztec and Inca Gods. If it was intended for sacrifice, Rebecca wondered who the victims were and why they were being sacrificed in the secret chamber.

Rudy had discovered some clever little eyelets of what looked like carved bone set into the walls at ankle height. They looked suspiciously like the restraining anchors found in medieval prisons. She let her imagination run away and pictured the frightened females secured to the walls for eventual sacrifice for some unknown reason to some forgotten God.

They made their way to the surface and both headed right to the showers to get the mud and clay off of their skin. The fact that they were showering right next to each other didn't bother either of them. They were both a lot more interested in getting clean than in any thing of a baser nature. Rudy did offer to "scrub" her back but Rebecca just threw the soap at him and kept on rinsing.

Their next stop was the mess tent and some hot food and tea. She knew Rudy wanted something a little bit stronger but their agreement precluded him from imbibing spirits until after the dig was wrapped up. He had already disgraced himself on two other digs and this project represented his last chance to make good on the archeological circuit. His propensity for drink and impulsive "grabbing" of the female interns made him an unlikely hire at most sites.

The power was back on again and she started to research the clues from the cavern in the database. It only took her an hour to determine that the signs pointed to a lost temple of the "Vestal Virgins" which was devoted to total obedience to the wishes of the "Moon Goddess"

Rebecca fell asleep as soon as she went into the horizontal and she was dreaming strange dreams as soon as her eyelids closed.

She was almost naked and lying prone on the ground in the cavern. Her wrists were tied together with woven leather and attached to the bone eyelets only a scant six inches off the ground. She saw two other girls in the same situation and they seemed in some sort of trance looking off into the distance and humming a strange chant in a funny language she had never heard before. A beautiful woman with glowing white hair came into the cavern and instructed two slaves to move one of the chanting females to the altar. Rebecca saw that the girl was so far under the influence of some potion that she only settled her body into the recess on top of the platform and quivered at the touch of the mysterious white-haired woman's hand.