Red Feline Faces the Inquisition - Chapter Two

	The torturer hears soft cries from the cage, but ignores them, it's the nun's turn. He must weaken the nun's resolve, her claim to innocence. He will wring a confession from her, but she's not an easy one. He can tell when they first come through the door. The feisty ones, the silent ones. He can see through them, the easy ones have a certain softness, an apparent desire to yeild. The nun won't be easy. He wonders if the eyes of the priests are watching, the unholy voyeurs. There are peepholes cut into all of the walls for just that purpose.

	He leans down to yank up the chains that hold the nun's wrists. She moans softly but aids with her own strength as she's pulled up to her knees. Melissa hopes she'll resist the punishments. She has heard stories, sometimes...she hopes that her fate won't be as horrible as that of those evildoers. She is not an evildoer, she loves the church, she had no contact with the devil, she is not a heretic, or a jew..... why then? She must be guilty of something.

	As Melissa's wrists are fastened to the chain above her head, she searches her soul for a sign. It is true that she has dreams, horrible, sinful dreams. But she did repent and she did confess, she often went on her knees and did her penance as it was required. When in the sanctified realm of the confessor, under the sacred oath to tell all, she would narrate with fearful lips, the nature of her sinful dreams and thoughts.. The Incubus, her confessor told her, was taking over her soul. She must reject all demonic suggestions.

	Melissa tried to avoid those dreams and thoughts, she punished herself severely. At one point she asked a sister to beat her with a leather strap until she bled. She was familiar with the whip. She did all she could; she slept with thorns tied around her waist more than once. She fasted, she worked harder, she was continuously penitent. All of her penitence didn't matter now, she was in the hands of the Inquisitors. Perhaps her self-inflicted punishments had strengthened her physically. Perhaps she could resist and the priests would see her innocence.

	Melissa had proclaimed her innocence, she had confessed her sins. She had begged for mercy. But her claims were not accepted, nor were her penitent acts. She would have to confess to more, to the real sins of her flesh and spirit. The priests demanded to know who, or what, had caused this evil within her. They wanted names. She had none to give. She claimed it was only her and her insidiousness, her own dark soul.