CotB 45: Confluence

Cult of the Bay

Chapter 45: Confluence

<<<Lamb>>>

Honestly, some part of her didn’t really believe that her cult would ever grow beyond her girls and Annette. People got touchy on matters of religion, and there was precedent of them willing to fight and die for their beliefs. And, despite essentially being given the green light from Rebecca, she felt her ‘religion’ would be doomed to forever be obscure, if not endlessly harassed by the more fanatical types which all religions had.

And yet here she is, laying her head on Taylor’s lap while she, Lisa, and Tammi pet her. Most would find it demeaning, but honestly she enjoyed it. Whether that was because of some pseudo-animal instinct or what she didn’t know or care about. All she knew was that she liked it.

Why were they petting her? Well she’d had her very first Official… sermon? Could it be technically considered one? It wasn’t like she was reading gospel and scriptures, but… introducing the tenants of her faith. Which were actually based on the Ten Commandments but… not nearly as rigid.

Basically it all amounted to ‘Do Not Kill Unless in Defense of yourself and others’, ‘Do not force others to convert’, and ‘Rejoice in the pleasures of life.’ 

Short, simple, and honestly how could you fuck those up? Of course, she wasn’t naive enough to believe that it was impossible, she’d seen people fuck up the simpliest things. So why not break very flexible and down-right pleasant tenants?

Of course, she had to clarify that she meant all pleasures, not just sex. Food, drink, the joy of a job well done… so many different pleasures. Though she may have to make it clear that didn’t mean she was going to be cool with them shooting up or snorting shit in her church!

Yeah, they still had their lair, but they couldn’t actually hold sermons there! So… Lamb purchased and refurbished and abandoned one!

“It was smart of you to say that the pleasure of both parties mattered and gave you, and Selene, more joy than just having one person enjoying things when you were asked about rape,” Lisa said with a smirk, “That covered a lot of things.”

“... Should I make a tenant essentially saying Consent is Sexy?” Lamb mused.

Lisa hummed, head tilting. “It might be wise, but you did say to follow the law too. Maybe if you take over the world at some point you should.”

Lamb nodded. “Maybe,” She said before she sighed and closed her eyes, “Though I really wished that boys from the minions' collage weren’t so blatant in their ogling.” Which was really pointless given Selene suggested her to go ‘au natural’ for her first sermon for… some reason.

Lisa felt a burst of amused surprised before Tammi said, “You know, I think Lisa was expecting you to deny your world conquering desires.~”

“Eh… if it happens it happens, Selene basically said I’m going to become an Eldritch Goddess eventually,” Lamb said, “So… why deny a very good possibility?”

Taylor twitched a bit, but didn’t say anything.

“Concerning,” Lisa said, “But probably not the worst thing. I mean, it’s hard to view you as menacing or terrifying on an existential level…” She trailed off before grinning and booping her. “You’re too fluffy for that.”

“I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m not eager for it myself,” Lamb said, “And neither do I, honestly I prefer to simply be a goofy Lamb like now.”

Taylor relaxed next to her, giving her a soft hug. Selene had told Lamb what Taylor’s thoughts on the subject were, even if the girl had yet to voice them. Her Goddess had also told her that the concerns Taylor had were…

Childish.

Not in a bad way, but in that she didn’t understand it because she was limited in her experiences and that, once it happened, her opinion would change. Lamb wasn’t sure, but… she Trusted her Goddess.

Tammi just hummed as she rested her head on Lamb’s belly, “So… about the kids though…” She started sounding a bit concerned.

“They will not be involved in any ceremonies until they’re of age, and even then of their own volition,” Lamb said firmly.

Taylor perked up with a grin. “That’s why I have that whole other building for them. I have all these plans, like arts and crafts and baking!” She’d volunteered to look after the kids and help them learn, so Lamb had rented a building next door to the old church they were using for it.

“Bless you, you’re an angel.” Lamb said with a sigh, “... And now I’m thinking of certain topics that make me want to kill something…”

“Oh?” Tammi asked, looking up at her, “Who? Lung?”

“No one in particular. Just a subset of deviants that prey on children,” Lamb grumbled, “Gonna have to establish that my faith does NOT support that shit…”

And she knew without a doubt some perverts would actually try to use her religion to hide their ‘tastes’.

“Okay, this got dark…” Tammi said with a grimace, “So, change of subject, how many converts do we have in total? I don’t think all of them were in the church.”

“Ones that came today? About two hundred inside with another four hundred just outside,” Lisa started, “With… two hundred million views so far on the livestream. And rising. Some of that will be curiosity, but…”

Lamb just chuckled, “You know… I can hear them? Their prayers. Well praises, really,” She said, “Prayers for protection, success for their endeavors, pretty sure one of them is from Leet because gaming is simply another form of art.”

“Oh, he could be a good person to convert with your ‘Master’ powers,~” Selene purred into her ear, “He deserves it.~”

“... But it doesn’t change the fact that he actually went through with that stupid GTA stream and beat hookers with crowbars…” Lamb grumbled, “Honestly, if he wasn’t such a joke he’d be a genuine threat…”

Taylor nodded, petting Lamb more; her fingers sending shivers down her spine.

“As for our finances…” Lisa coughed, “So, most of the donations we’ve gotten are for, you know, Behemoth.” Lamb expected that much. “But according to the minion’s, a lot of them are direct praises towards you. Mostly small donors, but there have been a few for people’s entire life savings. We’ve, uh, put up a message that says to not do that and sent those back, but there’s always the chance something slips through the cracks.”

“Good,” Lamb said, “I get that people are happy and want to show their gratitude but I don’t want them blowing their entire savings.” Honestly the one bit of gratitude she treasured was when an old woman and what must’ve been her granddaughter thanked her.

They were survivors of when Behemoth attacked Manhattan.

“I think they’ve been influenced by ‘Prosperity Gospel’ preachers,” Lisa said with a grimace, “Our lawyer friend agrees.”

“Oh, you could teach them a lesson too,~” Selene whispered with menace, “A pillar of salt would be deliciously ironic, no? And they deserve it, don’t they my Lamb? They hurt people so, so much for profit while promising them miracles…”

“I’m not cursing people that piss us off…” Lamb  said, “Though… maybe something to expose them…” Sometimes, the best way to hurt someone was to hurt their bottomline after all, or at least she heard that in a movie once.

She couldn’t recall the movie specifically though.

Tammi hummed. “Maybe appearing inside their ‘church’ and proclaiming them liars, frauds, and such?” She suggested, tracing shapes on Lamb’s stomach with a finger. “If they were really capable of miracles and their gospel worked, they’d be able to prove you wrong but since they can’t...”

Lamb shivered under the touch, “Maybe…” She mumbled as her eyes turned to slits in pure contentment.

“You can be in more than one place at once, My Lamb,” Selene said, “Now that you are being properly worshipped…”

“... I can…” Lamb mumbled, making Lisa snort. She could only assume what Selene had said, but since it was Lisa…

“Everyone here knows where her mind immediately went,” She snarked.

She got it on the head of the nail.

“Like you wouldn’t enjoy being the centerpiece of a Lamb-clone gangbang.” Tammi snarked back.

“You’d break me and I’d enjoy every second of it,” Lisa acknowledged, “And she’d break you too.”

“Dibs. As High Priestess I call dibs on the first ritual gangbang!” Taylor proclaimed officially.

“No, no Dibs,” Lamb said with a smile, “I can include all of my girls at once.”

“Certainly not me,” Annette chimed in, “As much as I would enjoy it, Danny isn’t that adventurous anymore… depression largely killed his drive to experiment. And while he’s grateful, Lamb, I don’t think he’ll be joining the church anytime soon.”

Selene spoke again, to her and her alone. “You could convince him, if you wanted. He’d be happier that way.”

“I could,” Lamb admitted, “But honestly? I think I should just leave him be with Annette.” Not to say she wouldn’t welcome him with open arms but she felt he deserved his wife fully.

Besides, Annette was theirs in a way that was undeniable and not even death could change that.

A thought struck her at that and she nearly facepalmed.

“I should probably bring Hero back now, shouldn’t I?” Lamb asked, “I do think I have enough power for it…” More than enough, really. The question was, should she simply teleport to Cauldron or call Becca?

“Why not surprise them?~” Selene asked, “You know where his grave is, and you’re powerful enough to do it without a ritual now…”

Lamb hummed, “Hey girls? Want to join me and witness the resurrection of a Hero?” If anything, she knew Taylor would love to see it.

“Sure!” Tammi said with a smile, “Hero? The person, I mean.”

Lamb nodded before just… taking them to it. So late in the day, there weren’t many people there at all. It was also chilly, though she didn’t feel the cold. Honestly, she didn’t really feel a lot of temperature changes much any more.

Just out of curiosity she teleported to the Arctic and wasn’t even phased by the cold. Though she did get a selfie with some arctic animals… though she did have to fist fight a polar bear to get one.

Could she have just used her powers or magic? Yes, but it wouldn’t have made for a less interesting story… and she wasn’t interested in having a bear fuck her.

“Luckily girls, we don’t have to do the whole riggamore like we did the first time,” She said.

Taylor pouted. “But that was my second favorite part,~” She teased.

“... Our High Priestess is a kinky bitch…” Lisa deadpanned.

Tammi snorted, “The Sky is Blue and Water is Wet. Any more profound observations?” She snarked with a roll of her eyes.

However, before they could really start their dueling snarks, which was their love language honestly, Lamb knew the two always made up with some struggle sex afterwards, Lamb simply snapped her figure as her eyes glowed brightly.

Unfortunately… she used too much power and what was supposed to be a low-key resurrection… suddenly wasn’t…

“Before you say anything, I didn’t do anything My Lamb,” Selene said, “I do believe you miscalculated just how potent the faith you’ve been getting is.”

A second sun was descending from the sky, burning in golden light. It was impossible to miss, even in New York City. It got dimmer as it came closer, which was good because she was pretty sure people would have gone blind otherwise, but it also took long enough that a sizable crowd had started watching it.

Then it coalesced in front of her, shifting, growing, and softening.

With a sudden snap and a musical note… Hero stood there, a new, healthy, whole body standing before her. He only stood standing for a moment, but Taylor and Lisa were able to catch him before he fell to the ground; the man stumbling and blinking in confusion.

“Welcome back Hero,” Lamb said as she smiled at the man, “You’ve been missed by a lot of people.”

Hero just shook his head in a daze as Taylor and Tammi helped him stand, “Wha-?” He mumbled, still disorientated.

Which Lamb found curious, as Annette was pretty coherent when she came back, but she figured that was mostly due to how long a person has been dead.

“I feel it…” Contessa sent, “Tell him that we’ll meet him at the safehouse. Alexandria especially will want to see him.”

“Your friends will meet you at a safehouse,” Lamb said, relaying the message.

He nodded, still dazed, “Siberian…” He mumbled, eyes looking through the crowd, “How long has it been?”

“Over a decade,” Lamb replied as he stood up straighter, “Don’t worry, we’ve helped keep things tidy.”

Absent-mindedly she wondered just how PISSED Jacky boy will be when he finds out Hero was alive and well?

Actually, as she looked around and noticed all the looky loos with their phones out, maybe Jacky and his group would target her sooner than she expected…

Then she felt something odd. A mass of people were in front of her church, praying to her with a devotion she’d… never felt before. A bone deep conviction that she was a god, their god. It was…

Addicting.

But, in the midst of it, something malicious lurked. She could taste it, for lack of a better word. Taste that something, someone in the group was evil, wrong. Worse than even Butcher had been.

Lamb could feel Selene’s excitement for the group’s arrival, the anticipation that something Big was on the verge of happening.

“Girls… don’t react, but get ready…” Lamb said over their bond.

“They won’t be needed, my Lamb,” Selene whispered, “You need merely take what is offered… and then steal what is necessary…”

“That’s not ominous at all…” Lamb sighed internally before bracing herself to just… deal with things.

She could do that and help Hero, right?

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