Status Updates From The Serpent of Lilith

'There was no doubt that Ivy had blossomed. The child had become precociously a woman, with a new poise, a new air of purpose that till now had been merely a talent for sharp opportunism. Jessica found it frightening, but knew she must maintain the outward appearance of encouragement.'

'Are you also not accustomed to passing judgment? [...] The last curtain in Stephen's mind was swept aside, & he stood face to face with the reality of his love. He knew he would snatcg Jessica from hell itself, even at the peril of his own soul; and if he could not, rather than abandon her he would burn with her. That was how it stood with him, now & always.'

'She still trembled, less from the mad ride than from the shock of her discovery, from the sheer intensity of her utterly unexpected longing for the man before whose image, only last night, she had danced in malice & revenge.'

'The humility & gratitude in Antonia's face filled Jessica with the knowledge of victory, of a mastery so complete that it was almost contemptuous.' ....First a bronze phallus, now an amorous housemaid. It's been a busy night for Jessica. (Yeah, seriously...a bronze cock. Pearl clutchers beware. :D)

'The sensuous delight of Marlowe's treatment was something completely new to Jessica. She abandoned herself to it, watching Marlowe's subtle fingers & absorbed face in the mirror as she brushed, combed, shaped, & pinned. It is almost, she thought, as though she was making love to my hair.' .... Predatory lesbian maid alert! Because occult gothics require it. >:D

'When Jessica herself began to be a woman, began to watch her budding breasts in her bedroom mirror & to accept the moon-cycle mystery of her own body, a new understanding came: that her father had adored her mother not only with his heart, but with his senses, to a depth that must have bewildered an innocent man of God.'

Joy. This finally landed today...with a giant-ass spine cleave, 4 remainder marks, & lays flat when open with some pages barely attached. Fuckin' hell. I HATE SPINE CLEAVES. Thanks so much, swapper-with-low-standards.