Leopard in Exile Read Free Page A

empty he tossed it away and lifted the girl up onto the altar, the motion knocking
    the scourge to the floor.
    The first effects of the potion seized her almost immediately: her struggles were disordered and fruitless,
    and he was easily able to bear her backward, until she was supine upon the black stone. Lengths of silk
    rope were already affixed to four bronze rings set at the corners, and de Sade bound her to them with the
    ease of long practice.
    " Le Bon Dieu curse your name!" the girl spat. Tears filled her eyes, but they blazed defiance at her
    captor.
    "Oh, I do hope He does," de Sade said absently. He took a cruse of red oil from the floor and began
    pouring it over her body.
    "Astaroth, Asmodeus—princes of amity—I conjure you to accept my sacrifice. Luciferge
    Rofocalo—master of treasure—hear my plea. I offer up to you a feast abominable to the Lord of
    Heaven. In this wilderness I offer you a supper of flesh instead of bread, of blood instead of wine, that
    my own hunger may be fulfilled. Adonai, Adonai, Adonai—"
    At each recitation of the name, the scourge rose and fell softly against the bleeding flesh tied to the altar.
    Sister Marie was still alive, for it was important to de Sade that she remain so, at least until the end of this
    ceremony.
    For the first hour she had met his invocations with her prayers, calling upon the Blessed Mother and all
    the holy saints and angels to preserve her. Then, for a while, she had only screamed, and now she lacked
    even the strength for that.
    Each time de Sade repeated the prayers the room grew colder. The candles that had once burned
    brightly guttered now with a strange blue flame, and the fumes from the censers had drifted down to
    cloak the floor like a strange unseasonal fog, hiding the signs and inscriptions scratched and painted there.
    Thirst and exhaustion dragged at his limbs like rebellious servants, but his passion for the secret delights
    of Hell drew the diabolist onward. Of all the prayers and sacrifices he had offered in the long months of
    this rite—this was the greatest: a young virgin ravished away from her vows, degraded and tormented to
    madness. When he had surrendered her, surely Luciferge, the Light-Bringer, would grant him what he
    sought.
    "O reasonable Lord, just Lord, master of slanders, dispenser of the fruits of evil, cordial of the
    vanquished, suzerain of resentment, accountant of humiliations, treasurer of old hatred, king of the
    disinherited, grant me your power that I may overthrow the do-nothing King and coward God who has
    betrayed your followers!"
    It was midnight. Between the first stroke and the last, the prayers of pious men would have no power.
    " Hic est enim calix sanguinis mei ,"2 de Sade said softly. He took up a small knife made of black glass
    and cut carefully into the vein that ran beneath the girl's breast. The dark blood welled up swiftly, and as
    it did he snatched up a flagon of carved jade and set it to catch the stream. When it had filled, he raised it
    as high as he could, and poured the blood over the figure of the ass-headed Christ.
    He turned back to the girl. He must move quickly now, while she still lived. Setting aside the knife of
    glass, he took up one of black iron, and made a deep cut below the girl's breastbone. The girl screamed,
    rallied by the pain to full consciousness once more. Plunging his hand into the opening, he reached up,
    clutching at her still-beating heart, and ripped it from her body.
    It seemed as if she lived a moment more, but if so, de Sade did not see her. He had turned, offering that
    which he held to the blasphemous Crucifix.
    " Hoc est enim corpus meum , " 3 de Sade said, setting the heart upon the brazier of coals made ready at
    the foot of the crucifix. " Aquerra Goity—Aquerra Beity—Aquerra Goity—Aquerra Beity! "4 The flesh
    hissed as the fire took it, shriveling and blackening as clouds of bitter steam belched skyward.
    Who summons me? a Voice demanded behind