Chapter 5:

First Breeding

The chapel felt alive with anticipation as I slipped inside well after midnight. My hands shook as I locked the door. Tonight was different. Father Lucian had not sent a note. He had simply looked at me during evening prayer with such dark hunger that I knew this was the night he would finally take me.

He stood before the main altar in his black cassock, candles flickering around him like a halo of sin. The large crucifix watched silently from above.

“Evangeline,” he said softly, his deep voice wrapping around me.

“Come to me, my child.”

I walked to him on trembling legs. “Father Lucian…...