Elizabeth Bedlam

The Vitality of Virgins Elizabeth Bedlam

Inside the small cinder block church the band was playing, people clapping and stomping their feet, calling down the Holy Spirit into them. The snakes would be curled in their wood boxes. Their poison quelled by the Word of God. "He's here. His holy vitality covers us all!" Preacher Stanton screamed over the crowd. A sharp cry cut the ecstasy short, and an eerie quiet rapidly fell over the little chapel. Stanton turned and looked at his young stepdaughter, Lila Lee. Her hand was on her face, eyes wide and shocked. A rattlesnake around her feet. "Help me...help..." Lila Lee wept, reaching out for them. Everyone dropped their snakes and ran toward the doors. How could this happen? God didn't make mistakes. This had to be the work of something else Stanton thought, driving home through the winding mountain roads. A curse perhaps, that was the only reasonable explanation. Stanton gripped the wheel and fought back tears as he drove. First his three wives, and now his virgin stepdaughter, all dead. Lila Lee had been handling snakes since she was a child, never once had a serpent struck her. This wasn't the Lord's work he felt, but Satan's through and through.
Preacher Stanton Went heard the voice of God in his ear and knew what he had to do. With the power of Jesus Christ and good old fashioned mountain powwowing he would raise his virgin stepdaughter from the dead, and remove the Devil's hex placed upon her by his rival down the hill, Preacher Samael. But upon rising Lila Lee feels different, she's hungry, and for more than human flesh...