In Which the virtues of Innocence are spread throughout the world and are prominent in Congress; Innocence and Virtue are conjoined, old friends are reunited and Chastity is resolved to the service of Innocence.

nnocence found that her fame brought with it not only the material rewards which meant she was able to exchange her Congress flat for a country mansion; but also the cost of selling her virtues through the media. In actual fact, it was a cost Innocence found that she rather enjoyed. She became accustomed to interviews for publications such as Cavalier and Silver Shadow, but also to more mainstream publications where although sex might be mentioned it was not their main raison d’être. Everyone was fascinated by a girl like her who possessed both feminine beauty and masculine assets.

There were also the interviews on Television and on the Internet. Some of these focused primarily on the exotic and pornographic, but some were designed for a more general audience. It was a pleasure to be interviewed and not have sex with the interviewers or, even, to display the asset for which she was most famous. The interviews took place in the studios and sets of the movies in which she starred, or in the studio of the television program interviewing her. In one memorable instance, the interview took place in the grounds of her newly purchased mansion where she could show off the many rooms she owned and the spacious gardens that surrounded it. She sat in the pagoda by the river that flowed through her garden, near the small forest that came with the land and by the statue-lined pathway that led to her front door. It was a delight to show off her new-found wealth, and the luxury of having servants to tend to all those chores she used to hate and usually neglected.

The pinnacle of her fame, however, was to be interviewed on the late night talk and sex show, Frances Carmen, presented by the eponymous interviewer, a privilege only extended to the truly famous. Frances was famous for her sympathetic interview style and the skill with which she cajoled sexual rewards from her interviewees. She was even more famous for her skills at the erotic arts, which daily drew a larger audience to her show than any other program of its kind. It was not as if she were the only interviewer in this genre, Michaela Parquet, Dora Evelyn Mayle and Loretta Cinders all had similar shows on which Innocence had previously appeared, but this, Innocence knew, was the climax and one which, in itself, would generate the media attention she increasingly craved and relished.

She dressed her very best for the show, in a sexy outfit that revealed the flesh of her thighs, waist and shoulders, but discreetly hid her bosom and, of course, her penis. These would have to be revealed later. She even agreed to wear a pair of high stiletto heels which she spent many hours pacing up and down to ensure that their unfamiliarity would not result in an embarrassing fall as she tottered into the studio. She sat in the waiting area with Leon, her agent, waiting for Frances Carmen to introduce her. There had already been two other guests. There was Sooty Cunt, a black sex actress famous for her skills in deep-throating, a skill she was more than happy to display with the other guest, Chummy Chucker, a male porn star famous for the quantity of come he so easily dispensed. There were also small sketches starring Frances’ co-presenter, Hank E. Staines, which almost invariably involved at the very least nudity and, in the final sketch, a brief interlude of cunnilingus.

And then, it was Innocence’s time to appear, which she did initially quite nervously, striding across the podium to the desk where Frances sat, cheerfully acknowledging the cheers and whoops of the studio audience. She descended onto the sofa with a broad grin over her face, waving at the most excitable members of the audience, and then turned towards Frances who directed a warm and ever so slightly sensuous smile at her.

The interview began with the usual promotion of the films she was currently in, and then some more general questions about stars that appeared in her film. An opportunity was given for her to relate a brief anecdote about some embarrassing on-set disasters the telling of which Innocence had still not properly mastered. Nonetheless, the audience laughed appreciatively and Innocence felt she could now relax as the interview proper began.

“You have your own magazine as well, don’t you?” asked Frances, picking up a copy of her publication. “It’s called Innocence, though there’s nothing innocent in its contents. It’s won several awards in the industry and it’s now the second biggest selling sex magazine. Only Cavalier is read by more people and even that’s a magazine you’re no stranger to.”

“Indeed not,” smiled Innocence. “It was an honour to appear in it. And even more of an honour to have sex with the Cavalier Pet of the Year. That’s a day I won’t forget in a hurry.”

“I can’t imagine you would,” agreed Frances, who of course herself had a similar honour. “What a girl! And she does so many good things for charity too. But returning to Innocence. That’s a magazine that’s come into its own in recent editions. I know you were very brave to experiment in one edition with more artistic concerns, but it’s now a much more mainstream magazine. Is that how you would prefer it to be?”

“I am always led by my readership and of course my loyal fans. It’s they who have made me what I am and I owe them a duty to give them what they want. Without them, I would be nothing.”

“Well, not nothing, Innocence dear. Not with what you have to offer the world!” There were whoops from the audience. “Of which we shall see more later!” A spontaneous applause. “You’ve now left Congress, I believe. And live in the Country. I take it you enjoy the escape from the hustle and bustle of the big city.”

“I don’t see it as an escape, more an opportunity to be more myself. Nothing beats the feel of country air on my skin or of grass between my toes.”

“Very poetic. Are you making more movies in the Country, then?”

“I may. I may. I might even make films at the house I’ve just bought.”

“Yes, we all saw that in Stars in Their Boudoirs. That must have been a joy to make. Though what do you think of Vanessa Venus? She’s some woman, isn’t she?”

Vanessa was the woman who presented the show. She was famous not only for the range and depth of her sexual predilections, but also for the fact that she was quite a large woman: plump with enormous breasts. Innocence had genuinely enjoyed making love to a woman whose flesh, like that of Blanche, she was able to sink into. “She’s some lover, too!” Innocence agreed. “I thought her cunt was going to swallow me whole!”

“If her breasts didn’t smother you to death first!” chuckled Frances. “But, seriously, we’ve got Vanessa on the show in a couple of weeks. That’s another woman I just can’t wait to get my tongue into!” The audience joyfully whooped in anticipation. “But, you’ve been associated with other famous people of some notoriety, like Honore L’Oeuf, the child sex writer. Has it ever troubled you that she’s gained so much bad press?”

Innocence blanched. But she’d been warned that her friendship with the authoress would come up in the interview. “I think Honore’s been much misunderstood.”

“It doesn’t worry you that she has been blamed for child rape and advocating child-adult incest?”

“Honore writes for children. Not for adults. I don’t think she can be considered responsible for the unpleasant behaviour of some adults. I think she’s as shocked as anyone by all this adverse media attention.”

“Well, we’ll find out. She’ll be a guest of mine next week, and we’ll see what she has to say. Now, you are famous for the variety of films you’ve been in. Is there any aspect of this of which you are especially proud?”

Innocence hesitated. She wasn’t at all sure she was at all proud of the anal intercourse, coprophilia, child sex or multiple partner sex she was so often filmed enjoying. Was there anything at all she was proud of? She couldn’t very well claim to be proud to have performed in some of Honore’s films.

Frances could see that Innocence wasn’t sure what to say, so she prompted her with a smile. “Many of your films feature men and women of what could be indelicately known as being of ethnic origin. Do you see your films as promoting love between the races?”

Innocence reflected on her passionate love affairs with Kedi and Purity. “I can’t claim to have made much of a contribution towards the causes of racial equality or black rights, but it’s undoubtedly true that I have loved people of different racial origins as much, if not sometimes more, than those of the same race as myself. I only wish I could do more to further the causes of understanding and racial tolerance in our society. It’s undeniable that much more needs to be done.”

Frances could see that the interview was straying away from the light and frivolous subjects for which most people watched her show. “You are also famous for furthering tolerance of sexual minorities. Not just gays, transsexuals and hermaphrodites, but also people of some very bizarre sexual tastes.”

“Well, I’ve been in a few piss films, but to be honest they’re not really my favourites. I don’t deny people their need to express their love by urination or bestiality or whatever, but it’s not what I most enjoy doing and not what I do in my own private sex-life.”

“Do you draw any line as to what kind of sex you wouldn’t like to advocate? Or is there anything you just wouldn’t condone?”

“Anything, whether accidental or deliberate, that involves coercion is wrong,” Innocence mused. She felt slightly guilty though. She knew that her private life had not been wholly innocent of sexual predation and she was reluctant for the conversation to turn to some of her films. She could argue that people often agreed to appear in films to do things they didn’t really enjoy just to make money, but the Frances Carmen Show wasn’t really the place to present such arguments.

“And prostitution? Do you think that’s a good thing to promote?”

“It’s a career,” answered Innocence diplomatically, “which if you enter willingly is surely no worse than what either you or I do, Frances.”

It was time for Frances to blanche, but she recovered so quickly that Innocence wasn’t sure that the camera would even have noticed her brief lapse. “But you so clearly enjoy making films. I’ve rarely seen a sex star enjoy herself so much.”

“When it’s good, it’s very very good.”

“And what do you do when you’re not performing? Do you go to night clubs and hang out with the glitterati, if you don’t mind the obvious pun?”

“Not especially. I’m a very private person really. I make films. I enjoy making them and I’m very lucky in having an agent, Leon, who represents me well. He ensures that what I have, I use to its best advantage.”

“And let’s see what that is!” announced Frances, standing up and making her way towards Innocence. She revealed herself as wearing nothing from below the silk blouse she wore and approached Innocence with obvious intent.

This obviously marked the second half of the interview, where Innocence was ceremoniously disrobed to the obvious delight of the audience: who whooped and cheered as Frances persuaded Innocence to full and urgent erection. Within minutes, Innocence and Frances were both fully unclothed, except for the stilettos and bracelets and sensuously made love together on live television. Innocence smiled at the audience in paroxysms of delight at their evident appreciation and the appreciation she was sure was shared by the television audience at home. Her penis was soon inside Frances’ well-trimmed cunt and she thrust in and out in unfeigned passion imagining herself sharing a vagina enjoyed by so many of the rich and famous. When she came, which she did expertly and with perfect timing and rhythm, she could barely believe she was able to produce so much sperm. Globules of it soared through the air, onto Frances’ breasts and onto the studio sofa, while the audience cheered and applauded, amazed to see in real life such an unusual, if not unique, display of tele-ejaculation.

Much as Innocence enjoyed living in the country in the mansion she’d been so proud to show Vanessa Venus, she still retained her flat in Congress. It was there she was able to easily keep her engagements with publishers, film-makers, accountants and lawyers. It was also easier to keep in touch with her friends, who she still treasured above anyone else, however famous or well-connected.

Amongst the friends whose company she most enjoyed was Purity who she loved dearly. The two of them frequently met in town whenever they could, and would make love in Innocence’s flat. Although Innocence often thought about it, she didn’t wish her best friend to become her lover. Purity, in anycase, considered such relationships to be bourgeois and possessive, and much preferred her freedom. But it was while sitting with Purity in a café that Innocence once again met Twelve.

At first she didn’t recognise the girl who had once again changed her appearance. She wore a very large hat with a drooping feather on a frame that was clothed in a large red shawl which when parted revealed that she wore nothing underneath, except a pair of laced ankle-high boots and a flower whose stem was embedded in her shaven vagina. Her freckled face was scrubbed clean and her eyebrows were shaved to a mere line above her eyes. She was sitting by herself and looking rather miserable.

“Are you alright, Twelve dear?” Innocence asked walking over to Twelve’s table. “Would you like to join us?”

Twelve smiled sadly and, curiously reserved, joined Innocence and Purity on the table under a café umbrella facing onto the grand plaza in the centre of Congress.

“What’s wrong, Twelve?”

“Nothing,” sniffed Twelve.

“That can’t be true. You’re normally pretty cheerful.”

“Well, you’re the cheerful one now, Innocence. I saw you on the Frances Carmen Show. There’s no doubt that you’ve got a lot to be happy about.”

Innocence couldn’t deny that. Fame and fortune was clearly agreeing with her. But she was still concerned for her friend. “Come on, Twelve, what’s wrong?”

It took a while to persuade her, and several glasses of wine, but Twelve eventually confessed that she had just finished her relationship with Gryphon, who she’d met on the set of a pornographic film she’d starred in, and was feeling the pain of separation rather more acutely than she’d ever imagined. “We didn’t stay together for long though. I’m not really what she wanted. She was obsessed with children and she was always bringing prostitutes back to the flat. We hardly had sex just the two of us together.”

Innocence confessed to Twelve that she too had recently suffered the pain of separation from Dodie, although it was clear to her, and also to Twelve, that there was less pain in their separation than Twelve was suffering. Innocence felt genuinely touched to see a girl like Twelve, who so enjoyed promiscuous sex, in a state of such romantic loss. Inevitably, her compassion for Twelve soon expressed itself in lovemaking which they partook in Innocence’s opulent Congress apartment.

Innocence had forgotten how much she’d enjoyed making love to Twelve. She felt guilty that she’d not appreciated the girl’s erotic skills more and had left her so easily. Perhaps it was because of Twelve’s vulnerability or perhaps it was the circumstances of the two girls being on the rebound, but soon their passion evolved into something more permanent. Even though Twelve clearly enjoyed her lengthy and passionate lovemaking with Innocence, she was still suffering from the pain of her separation from Gryphon.

It was after a particularly heated session, - in which Twelve had fucked Innocence with a massive dildo that seemed so incongruous on her slim pale frame, and Innocence had fucked Twelve so frantically that she found small traces of blood on the tip her glans, - that Twelve confessed how she felt she was such a hypocrite with regards to sexual matters.

“I always thought I could keep emotion out of my sex life. I never thought I could ever fall in love with anyone. Least of all someone like Gryphon. She’s not exactly a fashion matinee. And she’s so old as well! I sometimes wish I was just some kind of sex machine. I just wish I could fuck and fuck and enjoy fucking and just have no feelings at all!”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good thing,” mused Innocence, stroking Twelve’s small breasts with her fingers, enjoying the surprising stiffness of her nipples.

“You’ve been so lucky, Innocence, with all your lovers. There was Kedi, Dodie, Leon, Purity, and that funny girl into theatre…”

“Mouse. I don’t know what’s happened to her…”

“All these lovers. All different ages, all different sexes, all different classes, all different races. You really are the luckiest woman in the world. And to top it all…”

Twelve left unspoken what she thought topped it all, but her hand grasped the obvious object of her contemplation and massaged it in ever-increasingly urgent strokes into erection and eventual ejaculation.

Innocence was happy to believe that her interview on the Frances Carmen Show represented the peak of her career, but she was both flattered and astonished to receive an invitation from the town of Sauterelle in Brook who had recognised the former resident as a worthy recipient of the key to the town, an honour not often awarded. At first, Innocence thought it was a practical joke or even just a mistake, but further confirmation arrived from a town representative who visited her and Twelve at her country mansion.

“There can’t be very many distinguished people who’ve ever lived in Sauterelle if I’m being honoured like this,” commented Innocence to the minor official as he stood nervously on the veranda. He didn’t reply, but she and Twelve suspected that the real reason for her being so celebrated was to attract some of the attention which naturally went to Innocence to the small and mostly unremarkable town, and perhaps to increase the number of visitors to Brook who might wish to come that way.

Twelve accompanied Innocence on the journey, dressed in just a broad brimmed straw hat and a pair of elegant laced shoes. Innocence chose to be fully dressed herself: she still felt nervous about displaying her unusual assets, even granted that very few people who recognised her would be ignorant of what was hidden under the long feminine dress she wore. Innocence hired a limousine to carry the two lovers into Brook, giving her the opportunity to see places she’d never seen before and to stop at places on the way.

There were many sights of interest in the Brook region. Tall mountains, clear water lakes, deciduous and coniferous forests, and many monuments to past glories. They visited the splendid war memorial of Meurtre; sat in the shade of the ancient stone temple at Grenouille; wandered through the splendid gardens of Champignon; and gazed over the valleys from the hillside restaurant at Saucisson.

It wouldn’t do for Innocence to go so far without also visiting Divin where she had first visited Brook. She wondered as she walked gingerly through the streets whether anyone who’d seen her then in her nun’s habit would recognise her as the same girl. Her hair was much longer, now flowing over her shoulders, but not yet as long as before she took holy orders. She sighed on the reflection that it was possible that her hair would never again be so long.

The time spent at Sauterelle was tiring and exhausting. There were not only the honorary lunches and speeches, but everyone from the town wanted the opportunity to make love with Innocence: however briefly and irrespective of the number of people with whom they had to share the privilege. The door to the room Innocence was allocated in the Mayor’s town house was forever open and all sorts of local dignitaries and townspeople queued up to fuck or be fucked by either Innocence or Twelve. And in some cases both activities by both girls.

The mayor and his wife took especial care of the two girls: happily joining in the frolics and sharing the honour of Innocence’s visit. His arse was sore and so was his wife’s after a particularly gruelling session where something like ten people crowded onto the large bed where Innocence and Twelve spent most of the time. He leaned over towards Innocence and smiled through his moustachioed mouth, relishing the smell of her skin and tenderly stroking his own raw red member. His wife was still being fucked by Twelve who although she didn’t wear a dildo as a fashion accessory any more had no difficulty in applying it in sex.

“The greatest honour you can bestow me before you leave,” he announced with some hesitancy, “would be to relieve my darling daughter of her virginity. She’s come of age, but she has still never been fucked. It is a matter of some considerable anxiety for my wife and me, and one which we are reluctant, for religious reasons, to resolve ourselves. But in such a delicate matter, I would prefer if she had a private session with you. By which I don’t exclude your darling friend but which I would prefer that no one else from our town should also indulge in.”

Innocence considered this thoughtfully. Virtue was a pleasant young girl whose naked body she had often admired, but she could see that she was painfully shy as she blinked at the world through the very thick glasses she wore. But Twelve persuaded her that it was even her duty to assent, so she did but only after the reassurance that Virtue was happy to relieve her virginity to her.

Virtue was later escorted into the bedroom by her mother after all the other guests had departed, wearing only her glasses which Twelve persuaded her to remove. “But I’m nearly blind without them,” she complained.

“It’s what you feel, not what you see, that matters,” smiled Twelve kissing the girl on the lips.

Virtue recoiled slightly, stood back against the door and looked as if she were just about to leave, but Twelve kissed her again and trailed her hands down Virtue’s slim frame. “We promise we’ll be kind,” she insisted. “It’s your first time. We will respect your body and you can be sure that we won’t hurt you more than necessary.”

She gently led Virtue towards the bed and eased her onto the sheets where Innocence lay demurely and naked. Her penis trailed over her thigh and she gently stroked one of her breasts. Virtue lay down nervously and giggled as much from fear as anticipation. “Please don’t hurt me,” she insisted, as she lay on her back, between the two girls who started stroking her torso and breasts tenderly and gently.

They continued their gentle caressing for nearly a full half hour, allowing Virtue to feel comfortable and only gradually moving their attention from her face, breasts, arms and navel, towards her tight unsullied vagina. It was Twelve who took the lips of Virtue’s vulva in her teeth and entered the sweet-smelling entrance with her tongue. “The folds are so perfect. It’s like a door which has never been opened,” she commented. “Oh, Innocence! Have you ever seen a cunt so smooth and intact?”

Innocence moved down to join Twelve between Virtue’s legs. She grunted slightly, but in truth this was not an exceptional sight to her. She had often seen vaginas as undamaged as Virtue’s and had frequently been the first to breech the initially reluctant defences. The two girls’ tongues licked and chewed at Virtue’s vagina, feeling it gradually moisten as she lost more and more of her nervousness and began to enjoy the feel of saliva and teeth on the most tender of all her flesh.

And, then, when the juices began lubricating Virtue and both Twelve and Innocence could easily enter without causing her pain and only causing her pleasure, Innocence entered in truth. Her penis had been stimulated by the slow lovemaking to its fullest size, stiff and powerful: the glans rock-hard and the veins throbbing visibly through the pink skin. Virtue gasped and the gasped again as Innocence’s penis eased itself ever deeper into the entrance. Her gasps were short and frantic and passionate and wholly spontaneous. Her eyes rolled madly, her breasts shone with a thin sheen of sweat, and her gasps became louder, more intense, more uncontrolled. And then exploded in full-throated cries as Innocence thrust in and out smoothly and rhythmically, while Twelve paid due attention with her tongue and fingers to the other erogenous zones. Her ears were nibbled, her eyebrows licked, her nipples tweaked, her arse stroked.

And then Innocence withdrew her still erect penis pulling out with it a puddle of blood, some adhering to the glans. Then, after a few exploratory pokings from Twelve’s and her own fingers, she launched its purple length slowly and gradually into Virtue’s arse, fulfilling the whole of the mayor’s urgent requests. Virtue shuddered and shivered and sweated and writhed as she now truly and in every sense joined the ranks of the initiated.

It was while relaxing on the bed, comforting the newly deflowered Virtue, that they received a most unexpected visitor. Une glided into the room trailed by an anxious official, fully naked and carrying with her a small statuette. She hovered above the bed smiling and grinning.

“I hoped I’d see you here,” she announced. “And in such delightful company,” she added smiling at Virtue. “But I can’t stay long. Leon asked me to see you to present you with this…”

She held aloft the silver statuette of a naked woman with long flowing hair and an erect penis. Innocence looked at it with trepidation. It was a beautiful figurine and only slowly did she become aware that the figurine was of her.

“What’s this?” she asked, sitting up, her penis still clasped by Virtue’s tiny fist, who blinked and squinted at the woman in front of them.

“You’ve been awarded the Coq d’Or for your services to the Erotic Arts,” Une announced proudly.

Innocence gasped in delight. This was the premier award in the erotic industry only given to exceptional individuals and usually presented by a head of state or prominent celebrity. She took it from Une’s hands and held it in her own. It weighed more than she’d imagined, and was as precise a model of her body as it was possible in such a precious metal. It shone and glittered in the light of the sun as it poured through the open window of her bedroom.

“It was awarded to you a couple of days ago in Congress, but, of course, you had a prior engagement, here in Sauterelle, so Leon sent me to collect the award on your behalf. I had to give an acceptance speech, and was kissed by the president who was presenting it. What do you think? It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Oh, Une! It’s far more than I deserve. It’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Une sat on the bed by the three girls and absentmindedly stroked Virtue who seemed just as overwhelmed by the honour.

“I can’t stay long,” she announced. “Alice and I are off to the Orient together on a plane this evening, and I don’t wish to miss that.”

“Alice?” queried Innocence.

“My lover,” smiled Une. “With her, I no longer need so many men and so many penises. But here you are in Brook, where you have so often been happy. And with this young girl…” She kissed Virtue full on the lips who was somewhat startled to be joined by yet another amorous woman so soon after her initiation. But something inside her gave way and with a sudden burst of passion, her mouth widened, her tongue emerged and she joined her lips onto Une’s.

And so Innocence’s pleasure at receiving the revered Coq d’Or was further enhanced as she and Twelve and Une and Virtue passionately engaged each other in hours of lovemaking. Virtue’s vagina and anus were re-penetrated, not only by Innocence, but also by Twelve’s ever reliable dildo. Une’s capacious cunt took in both Twelve’s well-lubricated dildo and Innocence’s stiff and excitable penis. She lay back with Virtue nibbling her ivory white skin, with Twelve’s freckled face in her own and Innocence towering above: her penis thrusting in and out rubbing against Twelve’s dildo in the caverns of Une’s vagina, occasionally allowing it to slip out and into the tighter but still welcome depths of her arse.

Innocence was sure she had now achieved all she had ever wanted. She had fortune. She had fame. And in the form of the statuette of the Coq d’Or she had also gained respect. She also had love in the form of dear Twelve. And as she was driven back home through the lanes and roads of Brook, admiring the beautiful green meadows, she was sure she had everything. But still there was something not quite complete in her otherwise perfect life.

The object of her dissatisfaction became obvious when she arrived at her mansion to find Chastity waiting for her in the reception area. Her heart shuddered. Her sister! She looked at Twelve urgently. What did Chastity want? Was she going to ruin her moment of glory and joy?

Chastity was dressed curiously modestly. In fact, rather drably. She wore flat white shoes with scuff-marks on the toes, a blouse with several buttons missing and a pair of trousers secured by a plastic belt. Her hair was tied back and she had a small pencil-thin scar on her smudged cheek Innocence had never seen before. She stood up nervously, her hands clasped in front of her and a sickly smile on her face. She faced Innocence with disarming modesty.

“Innocence. I know what you’re thinking. And I can understand. And I deserve what you think. But, please, Innocence, you are my very last hope…”

“Chastity! I know what you’re like. Within a few hours you’ll start playing your perverted little games with innocent girls, abusing them and abusing my hospitality. Although it pains me to say so, I’d much rather you left.” She turned to Twelve. “Don’t you agree?”

Twelve looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Chastity is your sister,” she said in defence of her one-time lover.

“And I’ve changed. Truly I have,” pleaded Chastity. “And you are the last person I can turn to. Since I last saw you my life has been a continuous downspin. And, yes, I know. It’s all been my fault. I’ve just not been able to keep my life in any sort of balance. I’ve seduced innocent young girls and boys. I’ve submitted them to my most perverse fantasies. But I’ve suffered as well. I became addicted to drugs. I prostituted myself to get them. I also became very ill. In fact, now, I don’t think I’m even able to … even able to …”

She burst suddenly into tears, and collapsed onto the floor. She tore her blouse open to show her breasts and pulled up her skirt to reveal her untidy vagina. “I’ve met others far more perverse than me. I allowed them to abuse me. While standing on the streets selling my body to the most disgusting men. I began injecting myself to keep up my drug habit. Look at the scars on my arms and down here,” she indicated a ragged mass of sores around her crotch. “And then I found that I was ill. I had pus swelling out of my cunt, my whole body erupted in shivers and I just couldn’t stop spewing up. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stay awake. I needed drugs. And the only way I could get them was by selling my body. And most of what I made from that was for my drug dealers. And when I didn’t make enough I was beaten. My nose was broken. My arse was brutally penetrated. And I erupted in these horrid boils. I lost everything. I had no clothes, I had no dignity, and now I’m not sure that I could ever … ever …”

Chastity sobbed uncontrollably. And then compulsively ripped all her clothes off, so she lay naked and helpless on the floor. “I need help!” she cried. “I need drugs. But I can’t afford them. All I can do to get drugs is have sex. And now I’m so sore and ill, it just hurts me. And I don’t enjoy it anymore. It just disgusts me. I force myself to have sex, and because I look so ill … and thin … and wretched … Because I look like the kind of junkie I am, I get the worst and poorest clients. I hate what they do to me. And I think they only have sex with me because they hate me … and Innocence... I didn’t want to come back … and can you. Can you. Ever. Forgive me?”

Chastity slumped to the floor in a foetal position. Innocence gazed at her wretched misery. She glanced at Twelve, who she could see was weeping. She found that she too was weeping. Her sister was truly emaciated. Her cheeks were sunken, her breasts had lost almost all their body, and her stomach was far too tight to be in any sense healthy. What could she do?

“Do you mean you no longer enjoy sex?”

Chastity sniffed. “It’s love I need now. Not sex. Oh! Innocence. Please forgive me. Forgive me for all the times I took advantage of you. Forgive me for the many others who I …”

“But as soon as you’re well, you’ll be just like before. You’ll bring people back and fuck them. And piss and shit on them. And beat them. I know you. You could never change.”

Chastity sniffed, and burst into more sobs. The sobs erupted into a full-throated cry. And then she lay flat on the ground, tears streaming down a face made ugly by misery. She tried pulling herself up on one hand, but failed and slumped back on the ground, her ragged torn clothes about her. Innocence noticed with a wince that some of Chastity’s sores were pustulating and that she had nasty red and brown bruises on her back. And wasn’t that the faint sign of a welt just above her buttocks?

Despite the sores and despite the revulsion she felt for them and her embarrassment and the degree of her sister’s humiliation, she bent down to the floor and lifted her sister up into her arms. She held Chastity close to her bosom.

“You are my sister. I love you. I shall always love you. I don’t care whether I ever make love to you again, but I can express my love by helping you. I know that I’m blessed. I have everything I could possibly want. I may be a freak but I no longer care. In fact, I actually quite like it.” She brushed a tear from her cheek, and tenderly placed a kiss on her sister’s cheek, aware for the first time just how crooked her nose now was. “I’ll look after you. I’ll help you. After all, in some way, for which I should really be grateful, it’s partly you who’s made me what I am now. And without you, maybe I would never have learnt to express myself. But now it’s my opportunity to forgive you and help you towards recovery. And maybe one day you can share the happiness of which I now have so much.”