Being of Ashen Hollow

Valerie -- The Saturday before Halloween

A pair of torn frilly pink panties flapped in the breeze in a place of honor to one side of Valerie while red, ripped men's briefs were hanging off the opposite corner of the town sign. The sundered garments were due to serve as flags welcoming people into town until the last freeze of the coming winter.

The road was closed tonight, but most who drove through town would think they were tattered flags if they saw them at the top corners of the sign. One had to live in Ashen Hollow for long enough to be brought into their confidence or have been born here to participate in the yearly harvest ritual of renewal.

Legend held that several town elders were products of the ritual, though there had not been many conceptions since birth control became widespread. Condoms were forbidden, as was pulling out, but Valerie's IUD wasn't against the rules. Hopefully, no one could see through the beautifully-crafted regalia to tell that the Ashen Hollow's disgraced tomboy was on the raised dais beside the town sign being honored in their most vital ceremony.

Returning to town thirteen years after her near exile, hardly anyone would recognize her face, but anyone of age in the hamlet now knew what her waxed pussy looked like being split by a mammoth cock. The padding under her porcelain mask crinkled as she rolled her head to the side.

Every sense was heightened spectacularly by the ritual. Anyone who wasn't close enough to see the action on the well-lit stage could see her having sex on one of the two giant screens that abutted the Ashen Hollow welcome sign. It was a concession to keep the crowd from pressing too close to the structure and interrupting the ritual.

The male participant's cock jutted from a hairless crotch and disappeared into Valerie's cunt. The harsh term seemed appropriate for the situation in her mind. A surplus of natural lubrication was in creamy streaks along the thick penetrator. She was more turned on than any moment she could recall. The only thing that Val could tell about her mate for the night was that he was tall, extremely well-endowed, and had a pale shade of skin. He also had to be between eighteen and forty-five to have his number drawn at the Harvest and Hunt Festival's culmination.

Somewhere in the sea of very interested voyeurs, Valerie's best friend was watching her have sex and had no idea. Val hoped that he had been successful in finally asking Sarah out. She was a tall, gorgeous young woman who was kind, caring, intelligent, funny, and her best friend's type. Val knew that the woman was taken by the charming young man; it was hard not to be. All he needed to do was ask.

Gordon was the only reason Valerie took the job in the town that once shunned her family. Her unrequited feelings for the handsome young man would have to stay just that. She didn't need to take the risk and blow up the last remaining tether to her family's ancestral home.

"Unnh!" Valerie's scream of ecstasy was partially arrested by the dense foam gag between her teeth and fastened around the back of her head with a padded leather strap. The man fucking her had the skill and the natural gifts to coax multiple orgasms from her form. One of his gloved hands delicately fondled her exposed breasts while the other toyed with her clitty like he was playing an epic, tantalizing guitar solo. The quick movements of his fingers belayed the masterful precision of his aim.

The man was dressed as the Grim Reaper, the Avatar of Winter and Death in this town, his face entirely obscured by dark fabric. He, too, had a gag in his mouth, although that had not been placed until after he had gone down on her to get the ceremony started. It wasn't only his cock that the figure had a high level of skill with, and that wasn't something Valerie carelessly praised.

Her dress had obscured his work after the attendants had torn their undergarments from them to start the festivities. The anonymity of the two participants was of vital importance to the hamlet. It was the reason for the requirements of a costume and mask for all on the fairgrounds, to obscure anyone in the age range that could be chosen.

A few exceptions could disqualify people from the lottery everyone was desperate to win:

1. A woman couldn't be on the stage if already pregnant. The age range was due to the symbology of the woman being fertile and the man being considered virile.

2. Participants had to be free of sexually transmitted infections. Everyone in town who met all the requirements was tested before the festival began. Their results were somewhat anonymized to the best of their ability, removing candidates without explanation.

3. The two chosen could not have any familial relations with each other. The Keeper was the only one who knew both participants' identities and took a vow that prevented them from revealing that to anyone.

4. Once a man or woman had their number called, they could never be on the stage again. This was another purview of the Keeper, as no one else would ever be assured of who was on stage.

5. The most recent exception added to the scrolls was sexual orientation. If one was gay, they could not be chosen, but evidently, bisexuality did not disqualify Val.

Done on the closest full moon to Halloween, the ritual served the purpose of sowing new seeds after the bountiful harvest. It was a renewal of the good fortune that had nourished the burgeoning town for another year and was said to aid in hunting beast and fowl to provide meat for the winter. That was no longer a necessity for survival, as the town was now a suburb of a much larger city with all the modern amenities afforded to that location. Local folklore said that the ceremony was far older than the community and may even predate many of the tribes in the area.

Valerie was surprised that she had been selected. Rumors said the elders could override a selection if it was in the town's best interests. The Keeper knew her provenance and identity but still allowed her selection. Thirteen years ago, at the first grand finale that Valerie had been old enough to attend, her father was chosen in his last year of eligibility.

He refused to break his marriage vows to do his part even if his wife had passed a few years prior, but that had happened before. Val's mom had been gone for three years before his name was selected. His committing the cardinal sin of the night and unmasking started the family exile.

If that had been the end of things, that would have only been a black mark that besmirched the family name if it weren't for a wildfire that flared through the region a week later. Like it or not, the blame was put on him for the fire, not the careless camper and unusually dry year.

After that, her entire clan moved out of the area. Her dad was even let go from his place of business after twenty-five years of loyal service. It didn't matter that he was still grieving and doing his best to keep his family together as a single father of three. The elders zealously protected the town and its traditions.

"Unh! Unk! Gnnn! Gnn!" Valerie yelped out through layers of foam as the Reaper worked her over another precipice. Her whole core tightened as a robust climax shattered all thought. Her eyes clenched shut as a volcano of purples and oranges splattered against closed eyelids.

This orgasm burst joyfully from a pair of closely related nexuses of her pussy and clit. She screamed and thrashed as her sunset-colored thigh-high clad legs vibrated against the man's hips as he continued to stroke earnestly.

A half-decade without cock had been far too long. Vivian had been a great lover and could use a strap-on well, but it was never like this. The stretch and friction were heavenly and couldn't be imitated by someone who didn't have feeling in the thick rod. Her pussy contracted on her invader epically as her whole body thrummed with pleasure like a tuning fork struck and vibrating that bliss into the aether around her.

"Ffff... Ffff... Ffff!" Val tried to cuss, but her outburst was arrested by the gag. Her core took turns with the muscles in her back and ass as she futilely screamed to displace the electric pleasure surging through her. This second climax of the night was far more powerful, and her evening was only beginning. The man dressed as the Reaper was far from done with her. She could barely hear the crowd's cheering as her orgasm finally started to release her.

Val -- Three months Earlier

"This is the space, Val. It's yours if you want it." Thad walked her through the recently vacated warehouse on the edge of the town's fair and festival grounds. "Ashen Hollows doesn't have all that high of a population, but it's in a metropolitan area of nearly a million." He continued unnecessarily. Not only had Valerie done her up-to-date research, but she was also born and raised in Ashen Hollow. "The short drive and high pop density are thought of highly by our forecasters."

"I don't know, Thad." Valerie was waffling. This was the only opportunity to prove herself and manage a project. It was one of the two flagships. She needed to validate herself to move up in the company and maybe finally get one of her designs in place. However, she wasn't sure she could be in Ashen Hollows.

Her family's exile wasn't formal and didn't extend to her father's progeny. Even without the looming judgment of the town, Valerie wasn't sure she wanted to be here. Her high school experience wasn't something that had any pull of nostalgia to it. She was the tomboy who liked football, fishing, and hunting, not the popular girly activities. Once she could no longer be a part of her softball team, she only had a single close friend.

There were vicious rumors that she was a lesbian throughout high school, and she was mercilessly bullied by a vicious pack of cheerleaders headed up by a next-door neighbor who was oddly convinced Val had stolen her boyfriend. Their two principal complaints didn't seem to pass the logic test, but it was high school. Logic didn't often make an appearance.

The head cheerleader barely let Valerie breathe after Val's mother died in an auto accident. One point in the town's present favor was that the hateful shrew of a woman had been exiled from Ashen Hollow. Her banishment wasn't the nebulous variety that Valerie's family endured. A decade later, she would still be arrested for trespassing if seen in town.

"There are no other opportunities this year, and I don't think you want to return to HQ." Thad wasn't the greatest of salesmen, but he had a point. Back home, the general contractor was Vivian, and Valerie wasn't ready to be civil with the woman who broke off their engagement for another, younger woman. "Why don't I introduce you to our general contractor, and then you can decide."

"Thad, have you run this by the elders?" Valerie stopped them as they walked into the office on one of the corners. Thad's eyebrows shot up as if unaware of Val's history. Interesting. Valerie kept a smirk from her countenance. Not everyone did their research like she did.

Thad was a decade and a half older than her but another native of the town. Only natives or those who had earned the town's trust and went through the Rites of Belonging were privy to the existence of the hidden cabal that really ran the city.

He went from surprise to something that looked like he had been slapped. It wasn't as if everyone in town knew each other. It had swollen to twenty thousand when Val moved away and had continued to surge since she left. Her father's perceived betrayal and subsequent fleeing had to have made the local news.

"I... I'm not sure what to say." Thad babbled.

"I was born at Dr. Lawerence's clinic and grew up at 4400 Salem Lane." Valerie invoked one of the names of the elders along with the address of the farmhouse she grew up in. The elders' identities weren't common knowledge unless you were of the town, as they said.

"I... err... I didn't know I needed to." Thad looked worried.

"I'm of the town, Thad." She used the archaic phrasing of the Ashen Hollow elders. "I need their approval if I move back, even if it's only temporary." Val glared at him severely.

"It's still a fully furnished apartment courtesy of the company." Thad tried to switch subjects and sweeten the pot. "It's an older building, but it was completely remodeled last year."

"Another point in Ashen Hollow's favor, I suppose." Valerie sighed. This job had her eternally on the road. It wasn't so bad when she had a partner along for the ride, but now she wanted a home base. Val just didn't think she would be allowed to have it be here. Even if school had been a painful experience, the wilds around town had been compelling.

"Why'd you leave?" Thad stepped around the back of an imposing metal desk.

"The Harvest and Hunt Festival in 2010," Valerie stated, not needing to say anything more if Thad remembered that event. The pines and oaks had just now started to grow back from the great fire. Ashen Hollow was a wooded paradise surrounded by the great plains.

"You're Cecil and Peggy's daughter, aren't you?" The revelation was evident in Thad's dark features. "The eldest of three girls."

"That would be me," Val confirmed with a grimace.

"I'm sorry about your mother. She was a sweet lady." Thad's flash of recognition didn't seem to be a thrown-off nicety.

"She was." Valerie agreed. It had been nearly two decades, and mentioning her name still almost pulled tears from her eyes.

"I'll need to make some phone calls." Thad looked nervous. "You know, if you decide to stay, you'll have to attend the festival."

"I'm aware." Val's cheeks didn't even redden with all the things that implied.

"Will your name be in contention?" Thad probably thought he was delicately skirting the question of Valerie's sexuality. Her relationship with Viv hadn't been a secret. The swarthy and enticing woman wasn't ever one to keep anything concealed.

"I will be, yes," Val confirmed. Her number of male and female lovers had been equal, though she never dated any guy for five years like Vivian.

"I'm too old." Thad's phrasing seemed to say, 'Don't worry, it can't be me,' Even as his dark complexion blushed. "It doesn't scare you that your number could be chosen?"

"No, but what are the odds?" Valerie had done the math before.

Using the US average, the population between eighteen and forty-four was just under 36%, multiplied by the population of twenty-five thousand. Leaving out a year would only skew the data to look slightly more likely than it was. That left approximately nine thousand people. If she assumed the population had an even distribution of men, her chances of being selected were one in forty-five hundred or a 0.02% chance of getting drawn. Even if she multiplied that by sixteen to include the female attendants, her likelihood only swelled to 0.36%. Not that her analytical brain had spent too much time doing the math.

"Huh, it always made me nervous." There was another blush from the big man. "Not that I couldn't perform, but I couldn't look at the wife as if I weren't chosen. I don't think I could keep that from her."

"I'm looking forward to the tea." Valerie grinned fearlessly. She was past pussyfooting around topics that embarrassed others. "I only got to sample it at full strength once before we left. This time, I'll find a guy to try the substance with."

"That's a good time." Thad had a wistful look in his eyes and a wry smile on his face. "My wife and I are huge fans. Probably a big factor in the four kids."

The tea seemed almost magical and was perhaps the most important of the town's many secrets. It was only created twice a year, once for the Harvest and Hunt Festival in the autumn and once more in the spring on the first new moon after the last forecasted freeze. There was a reason that so many children in town were either summer or winter babies. Val had been a winter baby.

After the all-important ceremony, large cauldrons of the miracle substance were wheeled out and swiftly brewed. In big copper kettles, herbal tea was mixed for the males in town while women drank from rotund cast iron cauldrons. It was the reason that the fairgrounds cleared out after the substance was served. The effects were potent on their own, but when mixed, it was legendary. It didn't matter if the mixture was opposite genders or not. It was a supernova of passion. Interestingly, the power ebbed if more than a pair of individuals got together under its influence.

For women, their herbal brew not only got them in the mood but also made them orgasmic in an unnatural but addicting way. This tea could make the town incredible money if it ever got out. It made the guys rock hard, increased their stamina, and aided in their control, making it easy to provide many climaxes for their chosen partner. Evidently, it was supposed to be mind-altering and extremely potent when they finally came.

Valerie couldn't confirm the validity of the men's brew, but she had once experienced the women's variety and needed more. She was supposed to have a partner that night; however, she had to leave the festival after Val drank her helping and before she could reconnect with the would-be lover. Val nearly wore out her vibrator that night as she relished in the tea's robust powers, even though she had to sequester herself to the hayloft to get the privacy she needed.

This year, if she stayed and worked on the haunted house, Valerie would find a partner to test the virility of the men's tea. She needed a change after Vivian, and cock sounded good. Good thing I got an IUD again. She hadn't needed birth control during her half-decade with Viv.

"This still may be a hard sell for you, Thad." Valerie brought them both back to the present instead of quietly internally reminiscing about festivals past. "I don't fondly look back on my high school days."

Thad's watch loudly beeped before he could further sell her. "Oh, your general contractor is here. Why don't we go let him in?"

Valerie followed Thad back across the cavernous warehouse. There was indeed enough room to make a massive, haunted attraction. She hadn't made the whole floor plan for the setup, but her designs would fill at least half of the structure. I could do this. She thought. That was as long as the elders approved.

Thad opened the door latch with a loud thunk. For the next month, the space would spend time making the attractions that opened from September 1st to Halloween. This was far more than the run-of-the-mill haunted house that appeared in only October and was rickety construction. Theirs was an experience complete with actors and electronics. The spooky season would be well represented. Fortunately, the large, recently abandoned warehouse had air-conditioning against the oppressive summer heat.

A tall, lean, muscular man with weather-tanned skin and perfectly tousled, dirty blond hair stepped in. He wore his typical uniform, as Val had always called it when they were kids. Denim and a T-shirt were his appropriate outfit regardless of the weather or occasion, though his typical pair of Converse had given way to work boots. This shirt wasn't wrinkled like it had so often been when they were growing up and had McKinnon Construction emblazoned on his chiseled left pec.

"Gordo!?" Valerie blinked in disbelief. Gordo was a minuscule shortening of his first name and an ironic nickname for the thin man. He had put on significant muscle in the thirteen years since Val had a burning crush on the man, but still no fat.

"Val!" Gordon's blue eyes lit up as he came in for a hug immediately, and Valerie knew she would be staying to make this haunted warehouse. He smelled manly and had a whiff of the same cologne that he had favored in high school. Fortunately, it was now a subtle undertone instead of a desperate coverup of sweat after gym class.