Den of Iniquity Read online

  Rebecca gives me a kiss and goes back to chopping herbs and vegetables. I rinse my dishes, put them in the dishwasher, and grab a quick grope and a kiss before heading back to the den. Roger is getting Allison established on the couch again. He goes off to get dressed for the day, and I check on Allison.

  Allison reports, “I slept pretty well. I only woke up twice in the night and went back to sleep rapidly. I don’t feel any worse, which is a nice change from the last six weeks. I might even feel a little better.

  I open my second sight and assess her body. It doesn’t look like there has been a lot of change. I’m guessing her ‘feeling better’ is probably from the company and getting more rest. Regardless, I follow the same routine as last night, clearing the excess entropy, pulling the life out of the tumors, focusing some entropy back into her tumors, and feeding growth to her heart, abdominal organs, brain, and limbs.

  Rebecca arrives with another tonic. “Good morning, Allie. This is pretty much the same as last night’s recipe. I am preparing a more potent one in the kitchen. I should have a dose ready in a couple of hours, but it won’t reach full strength until this afternoon. I’m going to dose you five times each day.”

  Allie smirks, “I can just see you over a cauldron calling out, ‘eye of newt, toe of salamander.’ Do you have a witches’ cauldron in my kitchen?”

  Rebecca doesn’t even pause. “That’s right, Allie.” Then she does a creditable impersonation of a cartoon witch. “Well, dearie. ‘For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell-broth boil and bubble. Double, double, toil and trouble; fire burn, and cauldron bubble.’ Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

  Allison actually gasps out a laugh. “Okay, witchy-witch. Give me your brew.” As she takes the glass from Rebecca, Allison tells me, “You gotta love a woman that can quote Shakespeare.”

  I nod my agreement. “Just one of many reasons I love her.”

  Allison eyes me for a moment before chugging her tonic. Rebecca grins at me. “I love you too, Will.” Allison looks a little shocked at the open declarations, but neither Rebecca nor I feel inclined to elaborate for her.

  We spend the day like that - me working at the desk, Rebecca minding the tonic in the kitchen while studying, taking frequent breaks to dose Allie with tonics and energy, Roger working from his home office, and all of us visiting between phone calls, short flurries of working on deliverables, and food preparation. Allie takes a two-hour nap after lunch, but otherwise manages to engage for the whole day. Roger tries to deduce what I’m doing when I sit in front of his wife with my hands on her legs staring at her, but he never questions it.

  Allison gets another dose after we clean up after dinner, and then Roger carries her upstairs to bed. I can tell she’s tired, but I think her color looks a little better. Maybe I’m imagining it.

  Rebecca and I make an early night of it. We maximize our alone time to cuddling, talking about plans for the family, and quietly making love.

  The second full day of our visit starts earlier, but in a similar fashion as Monday. The highlight of the morning is when Allison walks into the den under her own power as I’m finishing a bowl of oatmeal at the desk.

  “Roger is in the shower, and I didn’t feel like waiting for him,” she explains. “I feel so much better today. My legs still ache, but I don’t feel like I’m going to collapse when I stand!” She sits down carefully on the couch. “Although, that’s about as far as I can go at the moment. My head feels more clear than it has in weeks.”

  “That’s great, Allie. Just don’t push it.” I pull my chair in front of her and start to dose her with energy. The large masses are noticeably smaller. I can’t tell for certain, but I think there are fewer small ones.

  Rebecca walks in saying, “William, my pussy is sore! What did you...oh! Good morning, Allie.”

  15

  Improvement

  Allison says, “I’m glad someone in this house is getting some. I haven’t been any good to Roger for months.”

  I hear Roger yell, “Allie! Where are you?”

  Allison points at me, so I yell back. “In the den. She’s fine! Come down when you’re ready.”

  I hear thudding down the stairs and then Roger shows up frantic in only a pair of jeans. He calms down when he sees Allison. She says, “I walked down on my own with no help. Now, my lovely husband. I appreciate the show, but I know how you are about being put together. Go take your time, and I’ll wait for you. I want to have breakfast with you. I’m hungry.”

  “You’re hungry?” he asks. Allie nods decisively. Roger asks excitedly, “That’s good, right?”

  Rebecca and I both agree. He rushes in to deliver a kiss to Allison and then hurries from the room.

  Rebecca tells Allison, “Your color and energy level appears to be much improved. I’ll go get your tonic while Will doses you with energy. I’m going to give you a cleansing tonic in between your midday and afternoon doses of strengthening tonic. We’ll be adding that every day going forward to get rid of toxins from the chemotherapy. That will allow Will to heal your nerve damage faster.”

  Allison gives her a considering look as Rebecca leaves the room. She turns to me and murmurs. “You really are doing something active, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, Allie. I am,” I admit. “It’s something I only recently learned how to do. My girlfriend had breast cancer. We discovered that I could heal it by focusing energy. We can talk about it more later.”

  “Poor girl,” she says as she looks after Rebecca. I don’t correct her misconception.

  The day proceeds much as the previous one with only a couple of exceptions. Allison is more animated, and her color is noticeably better. Her skin tone progresses to a light grey by the end of the day. She takes a shower after lunch, followed by a two-and a half-hour nap. Roger learns that he has to go to the office tomorrow, which conflicts with taking Allie to the doctor. I volunteer to take her and shuffle my schedule to accommodate the appointment.

  Wednesday starts with an early rise for everyone. Rebecca and I make breakfast and pack a lunch for Roger to take. He and Allison show up in the kitchen. Allie is in a dark blue sweatsuit that hangs off her, and Rogers is in chinos and a polo. He heads off to work. Rebecca and I tag-team sitting with Allie and taking showers. I work for about an hour before it’s time to load into Allison’s RAV4.

  When we arrive at the doctor’s office, we find it’s in one of the ‘cancer clinic’ hospitals. If you ever needed evidence that cancer is a lucrative business, just look at all of these that have cropped up in the last five to ten years. We check in, and they wheel Allison around the facility to get lab work, get a CT scan, get vitals checked, and finally get examined by a team of doctors. It was exhausting to watch. Rebecca gave Allison her mug of ‘herbal tea’ after the CT scan, and I managed to dose her with energy in the waiting room a couple of times.

  Allie’s doctor is a likeable older female, and there are four others. The lead doctor is certain their regimen of poison is responsible for her obvious improvement. The doctors spend significant effort into trying to convince Allison to resume chemo. I can see they are wearing her out. After about thirty minutes of their cajoling she looks at me and shakes her head slightly.

  I tell her. “Your choice, Allie.”

  The lead doctor on the team, a guy a few years younger than me with an insufferable attitude, speaks up. “If you really loved your sister, you would tell her to resume chemo.”

  I look him in the eye and pause for just a moment. I place a hand on Allison’s shoulder and respond. “Doctor, my love for my sister is the only reason you all aren’t dead on the floor for poisoning her. I recommend you drop it, because your arrogance has me about ready to make an exception in your case. Are we clear?” No one even so much as breathes. After a moment of silence, everyone but Allison’s doctor hurries out of the room.

  We finally escape and manage to get Allison home shortly after noon. We dose her with tonic and energy, feed her, and tuck a throw around her on the cou
ch for a nap. She sleeps for nearly three hours.

  I resume work with Rebecca on my lap. I ask, “Do you need to energize the tonic again soon?”

  Rebecca leans on my shoulder. “Nope. Not until I start feeding it fresh ingredients.”

  I tell her, “This one smells really good. Who knew boiled onions were the perfect base for tonic. It smells like dinner.”

  Rebecca giggles, “I could thicken it up and serve it to you as gravy on a roast turkey.”

  “Oooo. That sounds good,” I tell her.

  “Will,” she says. “I got an email from Tori.”

  “Oh? I didn’t know you two had shared info,” I respond.

  “Oh, yes. We had a couple of really nice visits last weekend. They weren’t long, but we connected well. I think she is trying to connect with Josie, Marissa, and me, but honestly it’s easy. She is sweet, smart, and funny,” Rebecca explains. “Anyway, her email said she thinks she found Aunt Judith. I didn’t think she would still be alive, but Tori is pretty certain she is living at the Pioneer Home.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. We were talking about missing family. She told me that she doesn’t miss her brothers, uncle, and father based on how they treated her - she never knew her mother. I mentioned that I missed Mama, Aunt Judith, and Ms. Leuvenfeld. I explained Aunt Judith is probably the only one that survived after my house caught fire. She asked if she was a crafter, and I said she was. She asked questions about our family tree, and then I forgot about it. Apparently, she’s been looking the last couple of days.”

  “Yeah, I get the impression Viktorija is the ‘mysterious hacker’ that Bernadette ‘contracts’ with,” I smile. I tell her, “We’ll go investigate in person next week.”

  Rebecca kisses me and leaves for the kitchen, hips twitching in her dress. She turns at the door to ensure I’m watching, and she smiles brilliantly when she catches me.

  The afternoon progresses with a couple of conference calls, which I take in the dining room to let Allison sleep. Allison wakes up while I’m on the phone with Susan, my boss. Rebecca gives her the cleanse tonic, and Allison stops for a hug before following Rebecca toward the dining room. I then get to explain that it was my sister, and Susan teases me because she thought I had added to my harem. I’m glad I had the headset on, because I’m not ready to have that conversation with Allie, yet.

  Amazon delivers a couple of slam balls in the late afternoon, which means eighteen-minute workouts tomorrow.

  Roger comes home, and he seems beat. Rebecca gives him a dose of Allison’s tonic and discusses his energy levels and health. She prescribes a different tonic, weekly cleanse, and vigorous exercise. Allison is leaning in the doorway nodding her head and smiling.

  Allison and Roger go to bed immediately after her last dose. Rebecca and I put on some soft music and work some defense tactics before we devolve into dancing. We go to bed and make love quietly. After we recover, we go again, and Rebecca ends up screaming loudly on her final orgasm of the night. I roll over, keeping myself inside her. We fall asleep with my cock inside Rebecca, and her lying in her habitual spot on top of me with her head on my shoulder.

  Thursday starts with a six o’clock wake up and a short jog before we grab the slam balls and head out to the back yard. We do some light stretches, and Roger comes out in sweats to join us. We introduce him to the routine, and start. We have to coach Roger to take it easy the first time, but he makes it through the routine.

  We all head back in to shower and start the day. Allison is animated as she comes into the den with Roger. She has a little more pink in her complexion. I assess her progress, and Rebecca brings her the first tonic of the day. I catch up on correspondence until Rebecca calls us all to the dining table. We have a cheesy quiche for breakfast with rye toast with butter and cheese. Allison teases Rebecca about the scream the previous night, and we all have a good laugh.

  After breakfast, Rebecca shoos us all out of the kitchen, so we resume our posts and get to the day’s activities.

  Friday morning, Roger joins us for our run and stretch. He watches us work on defense tactics as he stretches.

  The day progresses much like the previous days, but Allison gets a phone call from her doctor. Apparently the lab results show a 40% reduction in her tumor markers. I know she’s not healed, but that is a good indicator that she’s on the road to recovery. She only naps for a couple of hours.

  Saturday, Rebecca puts containers of the tonic in the refrigerator, and walks Allison through the recipe to make it herself. Rebecca cautions her to heat it on the stove and not the microwave as the microwaves can alter the molecular structure of the ingredients. Apparently she’s been reading about modern technology. We all hang out in the kitchen all morning and visit over coffee, tea, and food prep.

  After lunch, Allison wants to walk. We take her out in the back yard and walk along the fringe of the woods. After a circuit around the yard, Allison is ready for a nap. Roger tucks her in while Rebecca goes to energize her tonic. Shortly, Roger returns and I walk him through some basic chi-gung exercises he can use to give himself breaks when he’s in an office all day.

  After we finish, he asks me to explain what I’ve been doing to Allie.

  I sit down on a patio chair and think about how best to answer him without lying to him.

  I look around, and I don’t see anyone around. None of the neighbors are in their yards. I start with a warning. “Roger, I’m going to tell you things you were never meant to know about. If you tell anyone, it’s likely I will be hunted and killed.” I look at him. “Do you understand?”

  Roger looks at me to gauge whether I’m serious or not. Finally, he nods. “Okay, no one will hear it from me.”

  I pause to reconsider. “I tell you what. Why don’t I tell you both after dinner?”

  Roger’s frustration shows. As an engineer, he has a curious mind and a deep-seated need to understand how the world works. My delay irritates him, but he finally relents. “Fine, Will.”

  Dinner is a large grass-fed bison pot roast. It probably cost as much for that cut of meat as all the rest of the food we purchased for the week combined. Rebecca cooked it like a beef pot roast with carrots and onions. She served it with cauliflower mash, steamed broccoli, and gravy from the drippings of the roast.

  After we clean up the dinner dishes, we adjourn to the den. Roger pours a brandy for Rebecca, me, and himself. Allie has a cup of hot tea.

  I repeat my earlier warning to Roger. “I’m going to tell you things you were never meant to know. If you tell anyone, it’s likely I will be hunted and killed. Do you understand?”

  Allie says, “I don’t need to know then, Will. I trust you. Whatever you are doing is helping.”

  Roger says, “Promise you won’t tell, Allie. I need to know.” He looks at me. “I’ll tell no one about it.”

  I push a little, “You shouldn’t even discuss it among yourselves. If you do, then find an interior room or closet.”

  “Okay,” Roger says.

  Allison says, “I’m not sure I want to know, but if you’re telling Roger, I better know too. He will want to discuss it at some point, and I’m the safest option. I promise, Will.”

  I get up and draw the heavy drapes over the patio sliding door and windows before resuming my seat.

  “Allie. Roger. I have the ability to affect a body’s health. I discovered I had this ability when my girlfriend’s breast tumor would disappear after sex. Essentially, I manipulate energy in the body. There are two types of energy - growth inducing and entropy inducing. For brevity, and based on the impacts, the two kinds of energy are frequently referred to as ‘life’ and ‘death’ energy.”

  I sniff my brandy and take a small sip. “Your tumors are bright knots of life energy that are surrounded in death energy. I’m guessing that one day science will tell us that they are sucking up all the glucose around them, starving the healthy tissue around them. That causes the surrounding death energy.”

 
I look to Rebecca, and she smiles at me encouragingly. ‘God, I love that woman!’

  I continue my explanation. “The treatments I have been giving you consist of removing the death energy from the body, draining life energy from the tumors, and injecting the death energy into the tumors. Then I flood your organs and limbs with life energy to strengthen your body’s ability to heal.”

  Roger says, “Does this ability have a name?”

  I nod. “Yes it does; however, if I tell that to you it will confuse you rather than order your thoughts. The name of the craft I use to do this has been misused in literature and pop culture to the point that the common understanding of it doesn’t reflect much of my craft at all. If you started investigating it online, the Church would likely be knocking on your door, and I have been led to believe that their questioning would not be gentle.”

  Roger asks, “The Catholic Church? What do they have to do with this?”

  Rebecca chimes in, “Nothing to do with Will’s craft, but everything to do with the danger to his life.”

  Allison looks at Rebecca for a moment. “You really are a witch, aren’t you?”

  Rebecca’s eyes flash to mine before returning to Allison’s. “Yes, Allie. I am. The recipes I taught you will strengthen you just fine. When I make them, I push life energy into them, so they are more potent.”

  I add, “This is very important guys. The Church might try to kill me, but it’s more likely they would try to enslave me. They would send armies to kill Rebecca.”

  Rebecca says, “Many of the nurses in the First World War were witches. The Church made an agreement with the Germans to kill them all. The Germans had their own witches, but they killed them too. There are very few alive. I only know of one other that is alive, and I have never met another since my teacher.”

  “So,” Roger interjects. “What you’re doing leaves no traces, but attacks the organisms’ ability to thrive in Will’s case…”

  “...and in my case leverages the healing properties of plants to strengthen the body's immune response,” Rebecca finishes for him.