Women Scorned by Angela Alsaleem Read Free Book Online Page B

luminescent tendrils reached from the darkness above and sank into him. When they came out, they dragged with them a glowing shadow that took on the vague shape of the human form from which it was pulled. The shadow raged, thrashing and glaring at Aludra as the tendrils pulled it away.
    She gazed at the lit form, mouth hanging open. “Wow,” she whispered. His spirit. The tendrils retreated, bringing the soul with them. Then the light that had shown down on the man was gone. She stood, wiped her bloodied hands on her clothes, and continued on her path, occasionally looking back at the place where they had appeared and the spirit-shadow had vanished. So, that’s where they’re all trapped. All the beings she and her coven sought to free. She then disappeared into the trees on the other side of the road.
    Her path through the forest led her alongside the very road the old man once guarded. Dawn crept over the sky, lighting Aludra’s way. She yawned, then squinted against the glare. She’d never seen such bright light. The early-morning sun burned.
    Rory continued to elude her as she bent her thoughts in that direction. Frustration made her tense. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, pulling at a loose thread. It seemed the spirit was further and further away every day. She was already pushing herself to her limits. So tired. Maybe she wasn’t sending her signal correctly.
    She tried again, forcing the push, broadcasting the signal that would draw Rory to her. After several minutes she gave up again and continued looking for a place to rest. Maybe with more energy she could make it work.
    Eventually, she came to a house and observed from the tree line as a woman crouched among many plants, stabbing at the earth with some strange tool, her back to Aludra. She’d seen the tool before but never had seen it used in this way. She emerged from hiding, unaware that blood still spotted her face and stained her hands.
    She stood behind the woman, watching. Finally, exhausted and curious, ready to try something new, she said, “Excuse me.”
    The woman jumped then spun around. Her blue eyes widened and she gaped at Aludra.
    “Have you experienced the pleasures of pain?” The High Priest had often preached to her about the pleasures of pain, had taught her how to transform any sensation into something exquisite. She knew this woman wasn’t capable of feeling what Aludra could feel, but she thought it might be fun to play with her a bit. She’d never played with another person and wondered what it would be like. Aludra’s grin widened and her eyes blazed. “I could show you new levels of pleasure,” she said and reached for the woman, the blood from the road man bright on her pale skin.
    The gardening woman screamed and ran toward the back of her house. This was going to be more fun than Aludra had anticipated.
    She laughed as she followed her new playmate.
    Aludra reached the woman as she struggled with her back door, apparently unable to work the knob in her frenzied state. Just as she succeeded in opening it, the dark virgin laced one arm around the woman’s waist then put her free hand around her mouth to stifle any screams, squeezing the struggling woman against her. She dragged her inside.
    The woman’s legs relaxed and she went to her knees. Aludra grunted as she fell with the weight, but regained control quickly and hauled the woman up. She kicked the back door shut and found herself in a lit room with two large machines off to one side and a basket full of clothes. Such colorful clothes, she thought. She looked around, almost forgetting what she had come into the room to do.
    When the screaming lady bit her hand, Aludra almost dropped her, allowing the woman to get hold of her long braid and pull, but this only lasted a moment. She used stockings that were draped over one of the machines to bind the woman. Once she was restrained, Aludra examined the mark left on her hand.
    “Maybe you have experienced the