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Take Me to Church: Unholy Calling

By: Porville Sins

Alissa and Elizabeth had just finished installing the sound system that they had been hired for in the old church. The ferret and cat (respectively) both agreed that it was time for a break. Due to the frequent services at the church the only time the two technicians could work was in the hours between midnight and eight. Lit mainly by candle light at this time, with a few lights on for the girls to work by, the church had an eerie shadow effect around it. Something about it seemed ironically unholy, as if after the priests left, the demons came to play. They sat down on the pews of the church, the truss for the lighting and the speakers flown in to about five feet off the ground. The two girls ate in relative silence, having been working for hours already, finally the ferret stood up, stretching her long body. "Well it's" she checked her watch, "almost five in the morning." We'd better wrap up here soon if we're going to be done at all before the first service."

The cat started to stand up, but her head was swimming. She sat back into the pew, her vision going blurry. Out of her remaining sight she saw several figures filing into the church from the back, they were all talking in hushed voices, approaching her as she attempted to stand. "Alissa, what's happening." She reached a hand for the ferret whose dark eyes were like cold chips of obsidian. They had worked together for years, all the cat could think about as she was slipping slowly into the void was that Alissa had been one of her best friends, and only to wonder why she wasn't helping her now.

"There's no use trying to fight it. I'm sorry, I really am, it's nothing personal though, I actually kind of had a crush on you."

"Bu- bu- wh- why?" She stammered as she dropped to the ground, falling off of the bench. When she awoke she had been strapped to the truss using several leather straps. The truss had been flown out further, lifting her crotch up to about face height. She was hanging in a style that very much mocked a crucifix. "What are you doing?" The cat asked, tears streaming down her face.

"You've been called. I'm sorry but it's a matter of fact." A male voice said, standing at the back of the line. Elizabeth recognized his voice before she could clearly recognize his face. It was the owner and head priest of the church, he was wearing a silver robe instead of his usual dark green. "The Gray Lady, Anti-Mother, Goddess of the Afterlife, has called you Elizabeth Birdwell, to ascend to a glorious banshee." The rat priest said, his following echoed his last two words in near perfect unison.

"This is insane! Ali, surely you can't let them do this!" The cat begged, the truss swinging gently with her struggles. The ferret remained still, her expression a mask of uncaring. Slowly she stepped down, her own silver robe making a soft swish as she did so.

"Again, it's nothing personal... I can't stop this, it's the Gray Lady's will and no one defies that. On the bright side, she's called you to be a banshee, which means you'll have power and strength in the afterlife, more so than you could dream of here."

"You're spouting nonsense." The cat said, hanging feebly with no energy left in her muscles. "There's no such thing as banshees, I don't know what this Gray Lady is but I want nothing to do with it."

Alissa put her hand up to the cat's face, stroking gently, making soft shushing sounds. "It's not about what you or I want anymore, like I said, I actually liked you a lot."

"I like you too Ali," The cat said honestly, tears brimming in her eyes, "Please let me down, I'll do anything you want but please... I... I love you."

"I love you too," The ferret said, "But I will see you in the next life, maybe soon if my name is called next."

The ferret backed away, the rest of the robed members closing in on the truss and its occupant. Slowly they took sharp knives and cut away the felines clothes, leaving her naked. She tried to close her legs, as she swung helplessly above the floor, her gray fur bared for all to see. All she could say was "Please no," as they went about their work.

A large cauldron was placed beneath her, black pewter with intricate moons carved across it, weaving their way into celtic-knots. Slowly the priest descended from the top of the stairs, making signs in the air with his index and middle finger on his right hand. He reached the cat, circling her as he continued making signs in the air. He turned and called to two of the others who were standing nearby. "Bathe her, and smudge her, let her be delivered as pure as possible."

The two cultists, female foxes, brought a large bucket of soapy water and burning incense beneath the cat. The fox with the bucket pulled a sponge out. She climbed on the ladder that the two technicians had been using earlier, reaching out to start with Elizabeth's hands. The other fox fanned the incense over her body, her eyes closed as she muttered some prayer to her goddess. The washing fox washed Elizabeth's face, the water cool and strangely refreshing on her flushed face. She shuddered as it ran down her front, making her nipples rock hard as it chilled them. The vixen moved the sponge down, now gently washing Alissa's sides, before moving onto her small breasts. Elizabeth let out a small gasp as the cold water, and the gentle rubbing hit her sensitive nipples. She moaned slightly, out of fear and discomfort, she had used up all her energy and didn't feel like even trying to make another feeble escape attempt. The vixen's washings soon moved to that sensitive area between the cat's thighs. The cat was still whimpering, shivering at the chill of the water soaking through her fur. As the vixen gently and repeatedly rubbed over her unwillingly swelling lips, and that small sensitive nub, the cat felt pressure building up inside of her. No please, she thought her eyes closing, I've got to fight it, I can't. She couldn't help it, unwillingly she came. Her body shuddered involuntarily, tears streaming down her face as she dripped into the cauldron below. The vixen stopped, looking over at the head of their cult.

"Keep going, this will not affect anything. She will still be pure later."

The vixen nodded, now washing down her legs to the bottoms of her feet. The cat was visibly shaking from her sobs. Her shoulders felt as though they were going to pop from their sockets, her back was on fire, all she could hear was the roaring in her ears from sheer panic. When the first vixen finished, she bowed to the cat and said "forgive me my lady, I did not mean to chance your purity, it was foolish." Before she turned and walked back into the crowd.

The second vixen climbed the ladder, taking the ashes from the burnt incense on her finger, rubbing it carefully around the cat's eyes. She made a circle around each eye before shading her nose with the black, strong smelling ash. Elizabeth choked, the smell was overpowering and inescapable now, and it burned her throat as she tried to breath. She saw her face in the water bucket, it looked like some grim skull, a black smile currently being painted by the fox. The ash was spread across the tops of her breast in a large triquetra that extended down to her navel. Another marking was placed above her heart, in the shape of a waning moon. Finally just above her lower lips, another knot design was placed. The second vixen bowed, returning into the fold.

Alissa stepped forward again, after a whispered conversation with the priest. She took a sharp knife from the altar before standing beneath the cat, another rat joined her, carrying a box with stitching supplies in it. The ferret's mask of uncaring wavered for a second time, "In this ritual you shall be... Be d- desexed. As it is that there is no life brought forth in death, for to do so is a strict violation of the natural laws." The ferret looked away from Elizabeth's wide eyes, a single tear dropping just within the cat's view. "It has been my given duty to carry this forth... I'm sorry..." She said little more, instead she stood beneath the tied feline, she motioned to two other cultists who held the cat's legs open. The ferret took several quick deep breaths, her eyes closed. Finally she opened them again, plunging the knife within Elizabeth's folds. The cat screamed as the knife entered, and the cultists began a hymn in a strange language. The ferret made several deep cuts before finally pulling the cat's pleasure organ free, blood was pouring freely from the cat now, dripping sickeningly into the cauldron below. The ferret let the organ drop into the cauldron with the blood. She made several more cuts, removing the lips and entrance of her sex. Next she removed her nipples and dropped them below as well. Finally the ferret stepped back, bowing herself, before placing a bloody mark upon her face, streaking from both eyes, down past her chin. "For I am the one who is the bearer of grief, let it be that I have shed my tears, and tears of blood for she who is sacrificed tonight. In the world beyond, may we meet again, free of our griefs and anger in the world beneath the soil." She moved back into the fold, staying just at the very front. The rat with her kit sewed the remainder of the cat's nethers together, making a smooth stitched line. Elizabeth's voice had gone hoarse now, and her screams were barely more than a choking whisper. The vixen with the bucket approached again, cleaning the blood from her legs and her destroyed sex. There was no fight left in her body, and she hung, glass-eyed and weak like a ragdoll.

She sung softly, her voice low and cracking, it was a song called Do Gods, the cultists stopped their work for a minute, listening to her gentle tune. "

Do Gods, forgive, forgive my failings

Do Gods, give me, give me your hand,

Do Gods, call me, call me your own."

It was a song that she had once sung long ago, her pain shattered mind not recalling where it was from, or why it was relevant now. After she finished the first verse she broke into tears, unable to continue. The priest himself stepped forward, holding a chalice before him. "Here child, drink this and let your pain be forgotten." He passed the cup to her lips and she suckled gently, after a few sips he pulled it away. The cat hung there, her eyes fixated on the cauldron below, her own flesh and blood within. She looked one last time at Alissa, whose real tears were flowing, as the two locked eyes. Her neck began to feel weak and began to be heavy and she let it drop, forced once more to stare at the cauldron beneath. A warm sensation spread from her toes and fingers inward, enveloping her entire body, her chest feeling extremely heavy, and breathing becoming more and more of an effort. After the warmth a sort of cool numbness was following, her eyes began to blur and her breathing was very sporadic. She felt a hand on her, distantly as though it were through several layers of down, Alissa's voice was very quiet.

"It's okay, I'm here with you Liz," The ferret said somewhere.

The cat tried to respond but it came out as a weak gargle. Finally her body convulsed slightly, shaking the truss and its attachments, then she was still. She drew in one more breath, and let it out in a soft sigh. She was alone, in the darkness, numb and unfeeling, she wasn't even sad anymore, just broken, a soul can only take so much before it shatters. "Well?" A voice called in the distance, it was almost motherly gentle and feminine with a twinge of sorrow.

"Well what?" The cat said, floating in the void.

"Are you going to pull yourself together, or remain like a shattered vase upon the ground, it is your choice and I don't blame you either way." The voice said, the cat was filled with a tender warmth, seconds ago being without sensation.

"Why should I pull myself together? I have just had my life, my love, and everything I cared about torn away from me, including my own flesh, my blood, and all for what?"

"Without pain child, there is no healing, without healing you gain no strength. I did not want this to happen, the cultist's acted on their own misguided beliefs, but should you find the strength I will accept you as one of my own."

The cat found herself standing in the middle of a forest. The entire world was in shades of monochrome. The trees rustled in a gentle breeze. Despite its drab appearance, or the macabre atmosphere, it was actually rather peaceful. The cat sat herself in the middle of the trees for a moment. After looking around, she stopped to look at herself. Her wounds had healed, leaving smooth patches where her nipples and her sex had been. She sighed, sitting lost, thinking about the fact that she could never have children, that her life was now literally over, and that she had little to care about anymore, as there was nothing she could really do about it. She looked around, the placid forest was filled with people resting in the shade, smiles or wide expressions of wonder on their faces. It wasn't the final stop, there was more to go, but it was a resting point. Warriors who had been slain in battle, those whose lives had ended in sudden and traumatic ways, all were allowed to rest here before making the choice, go back again, live a different life have different experiences, or move on to something else. Elizabeth herself wondered around, finally coming to the edge of a small stream. She wasn't thirsty, but she took a drink of the cool, clear water anyway. It was slightly sweet, in a way it reminded her of the feeling of crying when you're happy. She dipped her feet in the stream, letting it wash over them for a while. She saw a figure appear next to her, it was that of a young looking wolf, her eyes fur and skin were all pale gray colored, she looked like someone whose heart broke everyday, yet she somewhere found the strength to keep going. Her hair was long and white, touching her hips in the back. She carried a walking stick with her, she was wearing no clothing except a small necklace with a silver raven on it flying between two crescent moons, her belly bore the marks of one who'd bore many children. The most notable feature about her was her large black wings, folded on her back. "So my child, what have you decided, or do you need more time? I can always give you another chance if you wished, to be a mother or a father and have children, to live a life full to old age, or you could join me here. I sense from your soul you aren't ready to move on yet."

"Right now I'm enjoying the soft grass and the cool stream." The cat said, turning to her, "I don't really know what I want, or even really who I want to be anymore, I didn't even get a chance to figure that out before I got here... Wherever here is." The cat said, pulling her knees to her chin.

"You're in the Gray, the point between one life and the next, there are many exits out leading to many different paths, the one you take is your own, or you could stay here, and join my court as the cultists promised without my authority, but that option is only valid if you prove to me that you're strong enough not to let this defeat you."

The cat stood suddenly, rounding on the gentle wolf, "Defeat me? Why should this defeat me? It hurt badly yes, but the pain's gone now. I don't care about the person who betrayed me most and her stupid cult! Why should they ruin more than one of my lives? How is that fair to me?" The cat was shrieking now, tears openly falling, "I had my life in the palm of my hand, with many ambitions that I will never get to know because of them, and now there are doors open to me and me alone, as I'm sitting past their reach." The cat let out a humorless laugh, "I'm the owner of my own afterlife, chooser of my own destiny, and who's to stop me?" The cat would've been panting, had her lungs needed to draw air.

The wolf sat looking at her, the weight of a thousand tortured souls on her shoulders, her eyes had shed all their tears long ago. "Anger isn't strength, it's just a different form of weakness and breaking." The wolf said with a sigh, "But it's a start, you're still in pain, and you will be until you decide to let the pain go, only you can do that my daughter. You will see me again, though I cannot say when. I'll be here when you need me." The wolf spread her wings, and started to take off.

"Wait," The cat called halting the wolf's flight, without really knowing why she ran to the Gray Lady, hugging her tightly, burying her face into her chest and crying softly. "How do I begin to let this pain go? I don't know what to do, can't you help me?"

The wolf lifted the cat's face so that she was looking her in the eye. The wolf had a sombre smile on her face, which felt like a mother smiling at her newborn baby in its own unique way. Elizabeth's crying stopped as she looked into the gray eyes. "You've just taken the first step of many, seeking help in a situation where you have no control. Let yourself feel what you're feeling, but don't let it own you. When you can forgive those who murdered you foolishly in my name, and let go of your ill feelings towards them, when your scars no longer hurt to look at, then you'll be ready. If that is the path you choose."

Elizabeth spent much time by the stream, with several people coming and going, sitting beside her. She found ways to work out her pain, by helping others work theirs out. Finally, as she was laying by the stream, she opened her eyes to see those sparkling gray ones, and that sombre smile. She took a deep breath in, standing up, looking at the scars on herself, before looking into the gray eyes again and smiling. Elizabeth became a banshee, a hunter of souls that ran from the inevitable, her tactic of talking with them and gaining their trust before leading them back to the Gray one of the more effective. She brought many souls back to the Gray Lady, and even helped a few of them find their own paths. In her time in the Gray, she hadn't really noticed time passing in the other world. One day she heard a voice behind her, it was soft and choked with sorrow. "L-L-Liz..." The voice said.

Elizabeth froze before turning around. There before her, looking exactly as she had remembered so fondly, was Alissa. The ferret crossed the plane and threw her arms around the cat. The cat held her softly talking to her, comforting her. The two sat on the banks of Elizabeth's favorite creek, just listening to the water burble gently past. Finally the cat spoke, "What happened?"

"It's been years Liz, I got old." The ferret giggled, "though you certainly can't tell that now can you?"

"Most people revert back to their youth once they get here, it's another part of what makes this place so peaceful." The cat turned to look at the ferret, "So did you ever find anyone else? Did you spend your life with anyone, have any kids?"

"No."

"What do you mean?"

"There couldn't be anyone else, not after you, not after how much I'd..." She couldn't speak anymore, laying her head on the cat's lap, "I'd betrayed you so badly. After that night, I quit the cult, and turned my back on them. After how much you'd trusted me, and how badly I betrayed that trust, I couldn't let myself get close to anyone else. I died as I felt I should've miserable and alone."

"I didn't though," The cat said, rubbing the ferret's hair, "You were there with me, and that's really all I remember now, there's none of the pain or the misery, but there's that. You're hand resting on my shoulder, your voice in my ear. You came back to me and that's all that I care about anymore."

"Can you forgive me, forgive me for causing you such pain?"

"I did that long ago, before I even became a banshee."

The ferret looked up, smiling a bitter-sweet smile. "How long do you have to be a banshee?"

"I'm not obligated to stay." The cat said, looking into the stream, "what did you have in mind, are you really ready to move on?"

"No, I don't want to go on to the next world yet, I want to start again with you. Live new lives, find each other again and this time live our lives together, the way it should've been."

"But will I recognize you?"

They both turned when they heard a small chuckle, the Gray Lady sitting down next to them, "You found each other after years, your souls drawn to each other, if you choose to go down this road, rest assured that you shall go down it together." The wolf said, a legitimately happy expression on her face. The ferret and the cat looked at each other and nodded.

Somewhere, in a small little cabin in the country, two old ladies sat, holding each other's hands. Different names, different species, but the same souls. They looked down at the small bubbling creek in the woods, listening to their grand-children playing within. They'd lived full lives, marrying adopting children together, all while forgetting their painful pasts, getting to live their lives over again as a blank slate.