Up to a little over a year ago, I was simply a church verger and grave digger. But that was before the first reports of witchcraft and Devil worship in the district. It was hard to believe at first. There were reports of secret ceremonies, animal sacrifices, curses and libidinous practices. Most of those supposedly involved were women, women of all ages, but there were also a few men caught up in the allegations.
The first stories were of some young girls dancing, naked, in the woods, around a fire, and chanting spells. According to the stories, they summoned the Devil in the form of a goat. The more lurid accounts, true or not, suggested that the Devil/goat had an erection of inhuman proportions, which the girls worshipped and with which he (or it) proceeded to take each of their virginities. Personally, I thought that it all sounded a bit far-fetched, but then, nobody asked me for my opinion.
The rumours and allegations grew when there was a poor harvest, that year, a small number of women suffered miscarriages and still births, and other misfortunes fell on members of the community, many of whom were amongst the most staunchly religious and devout. There were mutterings of curses and of people being possessed by the Devil.
The church minister dismissed it all as rumours and coincidences, at first. But, under pressure from the Church Elders, he consulted the Bishop who, in turn, called in an acknowledged expert on the subject, Dr White. By repute, Dr White’s methods and remedies were unconventional, and sometimes extreme, but as everyone accepted, they were not dealing with anything within normal experience.
Which brings us to my role in all of this. Dr White needed an assistant. I was installed as a Church Marshall and given authority to arrest suspects, upon the instruction of Dr White, to act as their gaoler, to assist with their interrogation and, where necessary, to administer punishments. It must have helped that I was a blow-in; I have no family connections to the area. My own wife and only child both died in childbirth. After which, I upped sticks and drifted for a while, before landing here as a stranger.
I must admit that, at first especially, I was shocked and a bit queasy about some of the things that I was expected to do as a Church Marshall. I also felt some sympathy for the victims (for that is how I saw the accused.) But who was I to question the methods and instructions of such an exalted expert as Dr White? Besides which, it sometimes served my purpose. It was several years since I had felt the touch of female flesh.
Amongst those reportedly seen in the woods was a black teenage slave girl called Tabitha. My first task as a Church Marshall was to accompany Dr White to arrest her.
Source: reddit.com/r/eroticliterature/comments/lqlkmi/mmm_ffff_the_devils_work_part_one