Although they found a weak, lone portal and many ghosts along the way, Jane, Jackal, Ellie, Ilium and Astor at first found nothing remotely recalling the Inezchet in the northeast US.
Just when Jane was beginning to complain bitterly that they were looking for a needle in a haystack, Astor had the idea of checking religious locations. "They're pseudo-religious, aren't they, the cult?" he'd sneered.
So in Mayville, Vermont, they scattered to scour the town for any building that looked like it had religious associations. They reconvened at the town library later that evening. Everyone but Jackal was late. Jackal, it turned out, was the only one with a consistently reliable sense of direction. Ilium was latest of all. But he came in talking excitedly of strange squatters in a building that must once have served as a church. No one else had found a potential lead, so they followed Ilium to the former church.
"Strange squatters?" Ellie repeated, flying beside Ilium.
"There are sleeping bags in the upper floor of the church, and four mattresses, they're definitely sleeping there," Ilium explained. "But they don't look like squatters ... they're not dirty or junkies, they're a well-groomed bunch ... You'll see."
They flew down a road called Queen Street. Most of the houses along the street seemed abandoned, falling into themselves without human life to prop them up. A long stretch of street was taken up by an empty lot. Where Queen intersected with a slightly more dignified road called Frenchman Street, a laundromat stood with its entrance through Queen Street permanently barricaded, and seemed to conduct all its business through the entrance to Frenchman.
The building that had once been a church, but now looked to be in disuse with its windows boarded up, stood on Queen Street, a few houses down from the laundromat. Ilium led them inside.
"Oh my," Jane squeaked, looking over the pews.
Even their weak senses could register the smell of sex.
Armchairs and couches had been dragged to the area in front of the pews, to form a makeshift open-air living room. Dozens of tapers in candelabras threw flickering shadows over the space, but otherwise created a surprisingly strong yellow light.
A large bearded man, clothed in a formal and old-fashioned suit, sat in one of the armchairs, bouncing a half-naked woman in his lap. They were both grunting.
The man reached for the woman's skimpy halter-top to free one of her breasts. He leaned up to slobber all over it.
The church interior turned even loud breaths into echoes, amplifying the noises they made.
"Maximilian," the woman moaned.
"Fuck her harder, my beast," murmured a woman who stood over them. She had short blonde hair and wore a white T-shirt dress that read GOLDEN STATE OF MIND, with a print of a martini glass on it. "Split her open. Break her in two."
She leaned over the woman in the halter-top, gathered the hair gently at the nape of her sweaty neck and angled her head down to give her a long, passionate kiss.
"Genesis," the woman in the halter-top whimpered into her mouth. "I can't ... anymore ..."
"You can, Aurora," Genesis crooned, as the man moved faster under them.
"Maximilian, Genesis, Aurora," Astor repeated to Ilium. "They're Inezchet."
Ilium laughed.
"They're not embarrassed," Ellie whispered to Jane, clearing her throat.
She was referring to the four people sprawled along the pews and watching. One was smoking, moving a hand between his legs.
"Isn't this offensive to, you know?" Jane asked, her voice louder than she intended. She pointed her finger meaningfully towards the sky.
YOU ARE READING
Ghost Silk (Ghost Perfume, Book 2) | ✔
Fantastique**COMPLETE** Rose grows into her ability to help ghosts and cross portals. The Alistairs pursue a bloody diplomacy in the soul realm. Between Rose and the Alistairs, love grows strong despite their secrets, the demons and nightmares that haunt them...
