More cheers, then a chant opened, ragged at first but growing swiftly in volume.
‘Fuck her, fuck her, fuck her.’
‘Hold on,’ said the woman. ‘I’ll need to put him in.’
Adam felt eager hands grasp his shaft. Shockingly, this turned him on all the more, especially when they began to pump him, working him to full erection. Then she manipulated him into position, seating his tip just at the velvet opening of Evie’s pussy.
‘Get inside me,’ gasped Evie, breaking out of the kiss. ‘Fuck me, lover.’
The woman pushed Evie’s bottom forward so that he advanced, slowly, exquisitely, up her tight channel. The crowd screamed approval until he was all the way in, balls deep. He felt her tighten her muscles around him, holding him in. Tears leaked from his eyes.
‘Oh God,’ he whispered. ‘Evie. My love.’
Then something happened to the fire and it shot higher, causing the crowd’s screams to heighten, in terror rather than excitement, and many of them to jump back.
Adam stared transfixed as the flames contorted into strange shapes, like arms reaching up, then a head appeared, then a torso, and the flaming head developed features, male features. The fire had become a man.
No. This was a hallucination. It was one of his dreams. He looked around desperately, trying to flex his muscles, to bring himself back to consciousness, but he was still there, still with his cock in Evie’s cunt, still looking at a man made of fire.
‘Saxonhurst.’ The voice came from the flames, low and echoey.
The villagers were making a horrible keening noise now, their arms held aloft.
‘The time has come.’
‘What’s he talking about? Who is he?’ Adam asked Evie, his voice coming out in a panicked trickle.
‘My beloved,’ she said. ‘John Calderwood.’ She was staring just as hard as anyone, and she looked afraid.
‘Raise them.’
A group of village men gathered in a tight formation about the corn dolly and began to lift it from the ground.
‘What is this?’ Adam flustered, gripped with terror.
‘It’s time,’ said Evie faintly. ‘Time for us to burn. And then Calderwood and I can live freely again.’
‘I don’t …’
‘You have to burn. You have to die for us to live.’
‘Evie, this is …Stop! This is murder!’
The villagers carried the corn dolly closer to the fire.
‘Tribulation Smith. Your time of tribulation has come.’
Calderwood smiled.
‘You give your life for a greater good. Take comfort.’
‘This is murder!’ he reiterated. They were so close to the fire that he could feel it singe his hair and begin to strip his skin.
‘My Evangeline,’ said Calderwood softly. ‘You have brought him to me. And now we can be together. Say the words.’
Evie simply stared all the more.
‘Say the words,’ Calderwood prompted her. ‘The spell we devised together, before Smith murdered me. Say it.’