Sacrifice by Wrath James White

as gentle and tender as her voice. She seemed to read April’s every desire, playing her body like a musical instrument until it responded in a crescendo that shook her to her soul. It was the first orgasm April ever had and others followed behind it in rapid succession until she’d almost lost consciousness, collapsing on the bed in exhaustion.
    April was still trying to catch her breath as she looked into Delilah’s eyes. The sorrow that had been there before they made love was now infinitely deeper, a mortal wound raw and bleeding out like a severed artery. Her own anger and misery, however, was gone. Delilah had done exactly as she had promised. She had absorbed all her pain. April could feel it. All her fear, her rage, her sadness had left her.
    And gone into Delilah.
    What she felt now was simply a profound love. Love for the woman who had freed her from her pain. But this love was so different from anything she’d ever felt before. It was wild and savagely passionate, a type of passion she’d never imagined herself capable of. It almost seemed foreign, as if she were feeling Delilah’s emotions instead of her own. Whatever it was and wherever its origin, she liked it. She never wanted to stop feeling this way.
    She ran her palms along Delilah’s jaw line and then traced her full lips with her fingertips.
    Delilah gently kissed the pad of April’s index finger. Even this small gesture sent shivers through April’s body. Delilah smiled at her and the expression was so pained that April’s heart skipped a beat. Her dark eyes looked even stormier and more turbulent than before, like the sky before a hurricane. The woman was so beautiful it was dizzying.
    “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
    Delilah’s body was tense and trembling. April wondered how hard it must be, fighting to control that maelstrom of emotions thundering inside her. Whatever Delilah had taken out of her was now added to the infinite miseries the voodoo priestess already had accumulated within her. It seemed to be tearing her apart. April now understood that whatever magic Delilah performed on her went far beyond empathy. It was some form of telepathy. Delilah had drained away April’s negative emotions and replaced them with her own emotions, with her love.
    How could anyone live with so much pain? April wondered. She stared at the woman in awe, watching as Delilah’s face ticked and twitched, watching her wince and moan. It was then that April realized what was happening to the woman. She was reliving April’s rape. She was experiencing it all.
    Delilah tried to smile again, but now it was even more pained than before.
    “Oh, Delilah. What did you do?”
    “I took your pain away. Aren’t you happy now? Don’t you love me?”
    “Yes, Delilah. I love you. But - I can’t leave you like this. You have to give it back. I can’t stand to see you hurt like this. It’s not right. It’s not fair for you to suffer for me.”
    “It is my purpose, April.” She smiled again. “I am the whipping boy.”
    April leaned forward and kissed Delilah, and this seemed to quiet the distress in her face a little. Still, April could not help but feel bad for what she’d done to the beautiful black woman.
    I didn’t know it was going to hurt her like this. How can she stand it? If one person’s anger and despair can hurt her so badly, how does she function after absorbing the combined sorrows of her entire congregation? How does she get rid of all that hatred and pain?
    April’s worry only increased as Delilah’s eyes rolled up in her head and she began to shake and moan, gritting her teeth against some terrible pain. April knew exactly what the woman was feeling. She’d done the same thing herself on a gymnasium floor long ago.

Chapter 11
    Detectives Malloy and Rafik sat with the hysterical children in the school cafeteria as their parents arrived. They interviewed each child one by one before allowing them to leave in their