Salem Moon (15 page)

L
ily and Gabriel held hands as they toured the museum. In the gift shop he saw many books on the Salem Witch Trials of
1692.
He marveled at the geographic maps which showed not only Salem, but also, the cities of Danvers, Peabody and Ipswich which had been part of the whole of Salem and whose names had been changed in later years.

They entered a room engulfed in darkness, highlighted only with muted lights. It was crammed with the many tourists there to watch the thirty minute presentation which featured life size, illuminated figures and a narration, telling of the infamous witch hunts and persecutions. The presentation was a major draw for tourists.

“
You must see this to believe that such a thing could happen,
”
Lily said.

Gabriel frowned, but was silent.

As a pert and pretty young woman dressed all in b
lack, with a name tag that read,
“
Salem Witch Museum Narrator
,
”
Allison took the stage, the murmuring of the crowd came to a halt.

“
What you are about to witness are the events leading up to the hanging of many young, innocent women in the summer and fall of
1692
,
”
she began.

“
While no one can claim to know exactly what caused the hysteria which took hold of Salem in those days
,
there are a number of theories on how such a thing came about. One
of these is that the so called
‘
afflicted
,
’
were simply victims of ergot poisoning from the rye flour that was a large part of their diet.

“
Or perhaps, the colonists, who were devout Puritans, may
’
ve had
their own religious zeal to blame. These zealots believed that the devil could and did walk among them in the form of a cunning witch
,
that these mortals had formed an unholy covenant with the Devil himself, giving them their powers.

“
And now, it is my honor to present the three-dimensional visual which further depicts the story. I must warn you that some of what you
’
ll see is
very
graphic and disturbing and may be frightening to young viewers. I ask that you use discretion regarding children and are
silent during the entire thirty-
minute presentation.

“
When it is over, we ask all to observe a moment of silence out of respect for those innocents who died during that fall and summer. It is my hope that we learn from history, so that nothing like this will ever happen again.
”

The narrator bowed her head and walked off the stage. Out of the darkness, appeared the first scene
,
life size figures of men and woman dressed in colonial garb as they played out the afflictions of the accusers going to the witch judge and demanding justice. Many young girls, looking confused and frightened
,
appeared on the stage.

And then, the trial, the confessions
,
and finally the sentencing itself
,
which in all cases save one, was the same: death by hanging.

The other, a man named Giles Corey refused to confess which angered the judges, who
’
d managed to coerce confessions from all the others. They
’
d believed confessing might actually save them
;
that this travesty of justice could not really happen
.
God would see the wrong in it and save them.

The events presented were accurate enough to make Gabriel
’
s heart beat fast with anxiety. He forgot that Lily was even there, that she held his hand. He squeezed it so hard that she flinched and whispered to him
,
“
Gabriel, you
’
r
e
…hurting me.
”

He let go of her hand, thankful for the room
’
s darkness. She couldn
’
t see how his hands shook.

The lights dimmed, bringing back the cool, eerie dark. The figures disappeared and a new light emerged slowly light grew from the darkness. Even as the crowd murmured amongst themselves, eyes wide as the light grew until it highlighted only one small area of the stage. There in the middle of that stage was the very thing that caused the audience to gasp in
both
horror and wonder
.

Gabriel saw nothing wondrous about it. He was filled with shock, disgust
,
and fear
. His was a fear
born of real experience with something unspeakably dreadful.
There, right in front of him was the object of torture that he himself had laid upon only days ago.

To these onlookers, the torture inflicted by the
peine forte et dure
, the crushing to death by heavy loads of stone had happened over
300
years ago
.
A small gold plaque bore t
he name Giles Corey: September 19
,
1692
. He was the only one put to death in this manner, having never confessed.

There was no mention of Gabriel
,
whatsoever. But then again, why would there be? He was sure that after what had befallen Thomas Snow, no one would dare to utter his name. They
’
d believed Gabriel was a powerful witch
who
could take revenge on anyone he chose.

He
had
to get out of here, away from the terror of it! His body shook all over, and a cold sweat broke out on his brow and upper lip. An overwhelming claustrophobic
feeling
slipped over him like an invisible veil. His eyesight began to blur and the next thing he knew, he was sliding down, as if in slow motion toward the floor. He grabbed Lily
’
s arm to try and steady himself, but to no avail. He collapsed to the floor in a dead faint.

A deluge of people surrounded him when he awoke. He shook his head to clear it and looked about. The only one he saw was her
,
Lily, looking down at him with tender concern.
I feel like
a fool
, he thought,
fainting in front of her
.
She helped him to his feet, repeatedly asking if he was okay.

He nodded, too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

“
Let
’
s…get outta here, huh? We can always come back some other time, when you feel up to it,
”
she said.

As they walked past all those staring eyes and whispering voices, Gabriel was unaware of two things. First: upon a wall, hidden in gloomy darkness, was a list of all those who were hanged as witches in Salem. On that list was the name of Abigail Blackstone. The second thing was not a thing at all, but a living being, not human, yet appearing to be.

*****

It was Lucien,
incarnate
and
more visible than ever before as he grew in the stolen strength he
’
d gathered from Gabriel
’
s soul
. He strolled along slowly,
hidden from Gabriel
’
s view by the throng of people. He watched with a slight smile upon his lips as Gabriel and Lily exited the museum.

Ah, it
seemed
as if he were able to keep this material form for longer periods of time than he
’
d originally thought. He wouldn
’
t waste time in this place. No, he would revel in it by doing whatever he pleased to whomever he pleased.

As he thought this, he noticed
many
women, both young and old were outright staring at
him and some men as well.
And why not? After all, he was an angel and was therefore beautiful. He also possessed the strong, able body of a well-built human male.

But he
’
d already chosen that one special lady
on which
to grace his lustful desires. In fact, two special ladies
,
one of which was no more than a common whore, a plaything to amuse him until
he tired of her. The other
would be a more difficult conquest, but oh so worth it
.

L
ily and Lilac sat on a small bank of land on the
h
arbor
,
a place they
’
d come to even as little girls to sit, play dolls and talk.

In the near distance, they could see the House of the Seven Gables, which was located on the harbor and had been for hundreds of years. The House itself, having been built in
1668
, was well-
known as the oldest seventeenth century mansion still standing in New England.

Also known as the Turner-Ingersoll mansion, the outside was equally impressive; boasting spectacular sea side gardens. Another structure which was also part of the
property
was the birth home of author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The house had been moved onto the same lot as the
one
he
’
d made famous in his fictional novel of the same name.

“
So, how was your date with Gabe-a-licious?
”
Lilac asked smiling, hoping for some juicy details.

“
Good God, Lilac! Will you stop calling him that? You make him sound like a candy bar
.
”

“
Well, he is pretty yummy, but then again, you would know more about that than me.
”
Lilac made a vulgar slurping noise.

“
Seriously, is that all you ever think about? I swear you
’
re a freakin
’
nymphomaniac!
”

“
I like sex. What
’
s wrong with that? It
’
s natural. You don
’
t hear animals judgin
’
each other for
doin
’
it, do you? They do it all the time. It
’
s nothin
’
to be ashamed about.
”

“
That
’
s because they can
’
t
reason
the way we can, Lilac. Geez
.
I heard you had sex with James Blackstone, now that
’
s just
gross
. He
’
s a pig and you know it
.
He told half the town what you…did with him.
”

Lilac laughed and said,
“
You
’
re too funny, Lily. You can
’
t even say the words
.
I gave h
im a phenomenal blow job…it was—
”

“
Okay, enough Lilac
.
”
Lily
put
her hand up
in a
“
talk to the hand
”
gesture, while turning her head away.

“
Seriously, Lily
,
don
’
t you wonder what it will be like to be with Gabriel, I mean sexually?
”

“
I think it will be a lot different than you and James, if that
’
s what you mean. And it certainly isn
’
t something I
’
d share
.
Even
with you. Some things are meant to stay private.
”

She absolutely
hated it
when Lilac told her the graphic details about her sexual adventures, of which she had many. Lily had never been with any boy. Unlike Lilac, she wanted to fall in love before giving herself to anyone. Perhaps she was unrealistically romantic, but she didn
’
t care.

“
Well, guess what?
You
’
re
not the only one who
’
s got herself
a hottie. I met this guy down at Salem Willows last night. Really pretty, I guess that
’
s what I
’
d call him, yeah, pretty,
”
Lilac said as though deciding if the guy should be called pretty instead of handsome was a major decision.