John got in the drivers seat and waited until Monica put on her seat belt before taking off.
"I'm starting to think this isn't just a rape case, but something else entirely. Did you notice that statue in the hallway?" she asked.
"Oh yeah. Every mans fantasy."
Monica smiled. "Every woman's too."
John chuckled. "What about the statue?"
"I think it's an image of Priapus. He was a fertility God, venerated by the ancient Romans, Etruscans, Greeks and Pompeians. He was symbolised by his extremely large….er…phallus."
John widened his eyes as Monica's cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink.
"Don't stop – Please, tell me more about this over endowed God."
Monica ignored him and continued.
"He had a consort called Ayana, but she was regarded as submissive to him. A cult sprung up in worship of them. It was called, not surprisingly, the Cult of Priapus and Ayana."
"Original."
"Yeah. Anyway, the members of the original cult were, among other things, practitioners of incest. They gave their daughters to a high priestess to be trained in sex magic and sex rites.
"Incest? Are we talking kids at risk here?"
"I don't know John – I didn't see any evidence of any minors on the premises. Did you?"
John thought about it for a moment. "No."
"There is one interesting fact that all the chroniclers seem to agree on."
"What's that?"
"Supposedly the original cult knew the secret of eternal life."
"Eternal life?" he scoffed. "Come on Monica – at one stage or another every two bit religion in history has made that claim."
"Just listen for a minute. We were led here by a rape victim who has no memory of her attack except for a silver lion with a gold tail and green eyes. The exact lion that adorns Daniel Winfields door. We have four women who were all hospitalised showing signs of sexual assault, and missing a litre of blood. A litre of blood John – what kind of rapist takes a litre of blood and later drops his victim off at an ER?"
"Supposin' for a minute what you say is true – that Daniel Winfield abducted those women and did those things to them – for what reason did he take their blood?"
"It's called blood letting – it's a powerful rite of magic. By making the sacrifice of blood or flesh to the desired God or Goddess, He or She will bestow youth on the supplicants. For a while anyway. It's an ongoing requirement."
"What do they do after they've bled the victim?"
"They ingest it."
"In the hope of this Priapus bestowing eternal life?"
"Yes."
"And the assault?"
"Many pagan religions believe that sex is the strongest power source available. At the moment of orgasm this power is released and can be channelled into a spell. The cultists of Priapus and Ayana believed that every time they had sex they honoured their god. If they bled their victims at the time of orgasm and then channelled that energy then anything is possible."
"I can see a hole in your theory. Victims don't orgasm while they're being raped."
"They might if they were drugged."
"You're not suggesting I ask a rape victim if she orgasmed during her attack are you?"
"No, of course not. These women were unwilling participants in whatever happened to them. I wouldn't compound their discomfort in any way by suggesting that they enjoyed it or even contributed to it."
"Okay, it's possible that he's responsible for abducting those women. I'll even buy that he's practicing weird sex acts up there. But you don't really believe all this eternal life crap do you?"
"Give me another theory and I'll go with it."
"Look, I really don't care why he's doin what he's doin. Let's just go get a warrant and go through this place with a fine tooth comb."
They pulled up to their motel.
"You do that. I want to check something out first."
"What?"
"I'll let you know if I find it." Monica called over her shoulder as she closed the car door.
"I'm starting to think this isn't just a rape case, but something else entirely. Did you notice that statue in the hallway?" she asked.
"Oh yeah. Every mans fantasy."
Monica smiled. "Every woman's too."
John chuckled. "What about the statue?"
"I think it's an image of Priapus. He was a fertility God, venerated by the ancient Romans, Etruscans, Greeks and Pompeians. He was symbolised by his extremely large….er…phallus."
John widened his eyes as Monica's cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink.
"Don't stop – Please, tell me more about this over endowed God."
Monica ignored him and continued.
"He had a consort called Ayana, but she was regarded as submissive to him. A cult sprung up in worship of them. It was called, not surprisingly, the Cult of Priapus and Ayana."
"Original."
"Yeah. Anyway, the members of the original cult were, among other things, practitioners of incest. They gave their daughters to a high priestess to be trained in sex magic and sex rites.
"Incest? Are we talking kids at risk here?"
"I don't know John – I didn't see any evidence of any minors on the premises. Did you?"
John thought about it for a moment. "No."
"There is one interesting fact that all the chroniclers seem to agree on."
"What's that?"
"Supposedly the original cult knew the secret of eternal life."
"Eternal life?" he scoffed. "Come on Monica – at one stage or another every two bit religion in history has made that claim."
"Just listen for a minute. We were led here by a rape victim who has no memory of her attack except for a silver lion with a gold tail and green eyes. The exact lion that adorns Daniel Winfields door. We have four women who were all hospitalised showing signs of sexual assault, and missing a litre of blood. A litre of blood John – what kind of rapist takes a litre of blood and later drops his victim off at an ER?"
"Supposin' for a minute what you say is true – that Daniel Winfield abducted those women and did those things to them – for what reason did he take their blood?"
"It's called blood letting – it's a powerful rite of magic. By making the sacrifice of blood or flesh to the desired God or Goddess, He or She will bestow youth on the supplicants. For a while anyway. It's an ongoing requirement."
"What do they do after they've bled the victim?"
"They ingest it."
"In the hope of this Priapus bestowing eternal life?"
"Yes."
"And the assault?"
"Many pagan religions believe that sex is the strongest power source available. At the moment of orgasm this power is released and can be channelled into a spell. The cultists of Priapus and Ayana believed that every time they had sex they honoured their god. If they bled their victims at the time of orgasm and then channelled that energy then anything is possible."
"I can see a hole in your theory. Victims don't orgasm while they're being raped."
"They might if they were drugged."
"You're not suggesting I ask a rape victim if she orgasmed during her attack are you?"
"No, of course not. These women were unwilling participants in whatever happened to them. I wouldn't compound their discomfort in any way by suggesting that they enjoyed it or even contributed to it."
"Okay, it's possible that he's responsible for abducting those women. I'll even buy that he's practicing weird sex acts up there. But you don't really believe all this eternal life crap do you?"
"Give me another theory and I'll go with it."
"Look, I really don't care why he's doin what he's doin. Let's just go get a warrant and go through this place with a fine tooth comb."
They pulled up to their motel.
"You do that. I want to check something out first."
"What?"
"I'll let you know if I find it." Monica called over her shoulder as she closed the car door.