“That my mother joined with Satan… and together they made me.”

Phebe drew in a breath but reluctantly nodded. “Yes.”

“Then everything is true about me, sister? I truly am evil.”

Phebe dipped her eyes, then looked up at me through her lashes. “But you are here in New Zion and you will be saved now, Delilah.”

I nodded numbly, but inside I was broken. Phebe, seeing I had no desire to talk more, walked to a tray on a night table that she must have brought in. Walking toward me, she held a pair of scissors in her hands. “I am to free you from your bonds.”

Holding out my hands and feet, Phebe sliced through the rope, and my bones burned where the rope had rubbed at the flesh, the skin bright red and blistered.

But I did not feel the pain, stark resignation washing away all feeling. Ky and Mae had tried to convince me that I was wrong about being a temptress, that the prophet and elders had convinced me of this truth to control me, to keep me doing their bidding. But hearing my mother had actually joined with Satan, had been tried and sought repentance, told me all I needed to know.

I, Delilah, was a Cursed… and had been swayed by the outside world.

“Can you walk?” Phebe asked, and I automatically nodded my head.

“Then we shall take a walk. I am sure you are eager to see your new commune. Prophet Cain gathered all of the communes and brought them together.”

That got my attention. “All the communes?”

Phebe held out her hand for me to take and pulled me to my feet. I gritted my teeth at the soreness of my ankles, but the pain faded as my curiosity grew.

“Yes, all the communes. There were hundreds all over the world. After the outside attack and the death of Prophet David, Prophet Cain ascended and along with the council of elders, they brought us here.”

The confused look upon my face must have alerted Phebe to my shock. “Did you not know this, Delilah?”

I shook my head.

“Then where did you think you had lived before you were taken to the prophet as Cursed?”

My heart rate increased. “I… I always thought I was at another part of the same commune. But… I do not remember much of my childhood, so I never thought of it at all. My entire life we, the Cursed, were kept separate from everyone else. Interaction with the other chosen ones was forbidden. It was too dangerous for their souls to be exposed to us harlot women.”

Phebe nodded in understanding yet pulled me to the door. I wrenched my arm back. “Wait! I doubt Prophet Cain has changed the rules for me. I am forbidden from leaving these quarters.”

Phebe glanced to the door. “We will keep to the secluded path. We will not be seen. We have about an hour until Brother Micah will come for you. Morning worship is in service and only I was assigned to watch you.”

“Why you?” I asked.

Phebe smiled and a flush crept up her cheeks. “I am a decorated sister…” My eyebrows furrowed, and Phebe flicked back her hair. “I am also the consort to our prophet’s brother, Judah. I hold an elevated status amongst the women.”

Phebe looked so proud and so honored to be by Judah’s side, but the one and only time I had met the man, all I felt was coldness.

“Come. There is much to see,” Phebe said excitedly, pulling me through the door and into the morning sun.

*****

Prophet David’s familiar voice played through large speakers at the scared circle, and I could not believe my eyes.

I blinked furiously, believing I was seeing untruths. My hands were shaking and my breath became slow. They were everywhere, hundreds upon hundreds of people… free of clothing and writhing around in pleasure on the grass. Men joining carnally with women; women joining carnally with women.

It was hedonistic and explicit. Noises of pleasure pierced the morning air. I had never seen anything like it. This was no Lord’s Sharing I had ever witnessed. This was sinful, wrong.

I looked to the raised stage and there sat Prophet Cain. He was alone, dressed in all white, looking down at his people. Although from here he seemed uncomfortable, not engaging in the act, his eyes staring at the floor, not on the mass writhing bodies.

Everywhere I looked there were people having sex. I did not understand it. This was not what I had been taught, not how I had been raised.

A happy sigh escaped Phebe’s mouth, and she turned to me. “Is it not glorious, sister?”

My eyes widened at her words. “I do not understand. Why are such actions taking place in the Lord’s Holy grounds?”

“This is the prophet’s message, Delilah. This has always been the way. We celebrate the Lord’s love with our bodies, ‘flesh of his flesh.’”

My head shook profusely. “No! We are to be pure. Restrained. We are to suppress pleasure so as to not invite evil into our hearts and souls.”

Phebe laid her hand on my shoulder. “No, sister. That is the way of the Cursed. You must suppress pleasure so as to not invite further evil into your already blackened soul. You are to remain pure but for your god-blessed elder who helps you reach salvation. As the chosen ones of the Lord, we pray through our pleasure. The Lord made us sexual to feel his love.”

My lip shook as I remembered the first day Brother Noah took me in a Lord’s Sharing as a child…

“Delilah, today you learn obedience, for obedience shall conquer evil.” His head tipped to the side. “You do wish for your satanic soul to be saved, do you not?”

“Yes, sir, most desperately. I do not want to be fallen, nor a temptress.”

Brother Noah smiled, and my stomach flipped. It did not seem kind, nor sincere, but rather salacious and excited. “Then come. We are to go to the great hall where all the other sinners and Cursed that need saving convene.”

I bowed my head in submission, placing my small hand within his. “What will happen when we are in there?” my eight-year-old voice asked.

Brother Noah bent down, stroked his finger down my cheek, and said, “I am to take you, Delilah. Purify you with my seed. And you mustn’t fight it. For fighting will only delay your salvation. You want to be set free, do you not? You want to be with the Lord when the Day of Judgment comes?”

“Yes, sir, it is my utmost dream.”

“Then do not fight. Your sister, Bella, fought brother Gabriel at her first Sharing. She is still a headstrong and sinful child. Her soul is still dark. You do not want that, do you, Delilah?”