She saw him looking at her as she sat eating lunch with her friends.

"Who is he," Rachel asked.

The man stood just inside the fence of the school grounds near the cottage that had been boarded shut after what had happened with one of the students just before winter break.

Kristin shrugged.

"He must be the new landscaper," she said, "Didn't Sr. Eunice say they had hired someone else?"

Oh yeah, Rachel remembered, after the last one had supposedly knocked up one of the students inside the tool shed two months ago. A lot of students at St. Athene's School for Young Girls had wound up getting pregnant in the past six months. All of them had been honor students or star athletes and they'd all been sent home with their rather embarrassed and upset parents after getting expelled. Chastity of course was one of the sacraments practiced by the school and premarital affairs just weren't part of the school's curriculum or its activity list. Yet the school's reputation had suffered once Dateline and other news shows rode into town sniffing for the sex scandal at the parochial high school.

Rachel had just turned 18 and looked forward to finally graduating out of this place. The draconian rules and the lack of freedoms the students enjoyed made it seem more like the penitentiary across town than a high school.

Only three more months left.

"I think he's kind of cute," Kristin said, "Look at that ass."

Rachel noticed its firmness and how his jeans molded to it so perfectly. He wore a long sleeved shirt and work boots. Dark curly hair, the trace of a beard and piercing green eyes when he glanced their way…and when he did that, the word swoon came to mind to describe her reaction.

She couldn't believe it. She had no sense of romance or sentimental hogwash. Hours spent studying even late into the night carried her much further than enjoying a social life.

"I think I might go talk to him."

Rachel grabbed her friend's arm suddenly.

"Don't…that's how it started with the others."

Kristin snorted.

"No it didn't….they were all clueless little virgins..well except the last one and they were with different men. All looked different from one another."

Rachel knew the fact sheet. She hadn't helped the others among then intent on tying down every single minute detail of these girls' lives here and the men who'd knocked them up.

"It's Dirk isn't it?"

Kristin shrugged.

"I guess so. Who pays attention to who works the garden?"

Kristin had a point. None of them did as they were so wrapped up in their studies and activities especially with graduation finally on the horizon.

They continued eating and when Rachel looked over where the man had stood, she saw that he'd left.

Dirk had spent the morning pruning the vines from the flowers that grew in one section of the garden. Some woman dressed from head to toe in black wool trimmed in white had instructed him on how it was to be done. He'd just listened, hadn't said much and then carried it out.

He needed to be below the radar here which meant keeping his senses alert and his mouth shut. But it hadn't been enough for Mara.

"I picked her out already," he said, "She's very pretty, healthy and I saw her looking at me more often than not."

"She's a woman. Of course she looked," Mara said, "but be careful how you move next."

"All I have to do is lure her to the garden," he said, "and then it'll be too late."

"It's already too late if you've chosen her," Mara said, "Your decision will stand, just be discreet. These women might be young and sheltered, but they're getting smarter each time. We can't have them find out the truth about us and why we're here."

Dirk didn't disagree with her but he remained determined to accomplish his goal.

Rachel wandered outside after her last class. Kristin and some of the other students were going to hit what passed for a mall on the edge of Main Street. Rachel just begged off, she had studying to do she told the others.

But she lied.

She wanted to see the man. Just to look at him and not touch. So she changed into her summer dress, the one with flowers in different colors and designs on it and a pair of sandals. The sun had warmed the air enough so that it seemed like late spring. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted, she thought as she walked towards the back door of the dormitory where she saw Sr. Eunice standing.

"You going to take a walk my dear?"

Rachel bit her lip thinking that would be the start of a believable story. After all, the nuns were always urging the students to get more exercise.

"Yes Ma'am. I thought I'd take one before dinner."

Sr. Eunice nodded with approval.

"Just be careful," she said, "There is evil in the world and in our town and I want our girls to remain safe."

Rachel knew that it was more than a hint about what had happened to some of the other students. But she wasn't like any of them. She was smart and didn't believe half of what she heard especially from men.

She walked along the paved path past the tennis courts and the swimming pool still encased in a vinyl bubble.

Up to where the garden began and where she'd find the new landscaper. The one who'd been watching her watch him earlier.

But it looked empty. Just fields of flowers that looked as if they'd been allowed to grow wildly, devoid of any boundaries….then what the nuns had hoped to revive, the vineyard. Grapes had been planted and harvested there for the communal wine which Rachel knew had other purposes as well. She loved walking among the vines and felt peaceful there.

The trees that lined it hiding it like a wall rustled their branches in the breeze as birds sang in the trees and small animals scurried in the brush.

At least that was what she usually found while walking among the rows of the plants. Today all she heard was silence.

No birds or other animal noises. Eerily quiet as a matter of fact, when she walked in between two tall trees with overhanging branches which made it appear as a doorway into a magnificent room. She looked all around her and just saw the green plants drooping with purplish succulent grapes. The nuns would yield enough of a crop to create wine for other uses as well as religious. Sr. Corinne in particular kept a stash of it in her tiny bedroom.

She continued onward through the trees and then she heard a branch crackle. She spun to look around her but saw only the trees. She put a hand on her chest…wow for a moment there she thought she hadn't been alone.

But she had to be. Most of the other students had gone off campus and the nuns were busy preparing for afternoon prayers. She took a couple more steps.

"I knew you'd come here."

She heard the voice from somewhere among the vines but she couldn't see anyone. Her eyes darted around the entire enclosed area, the wind had whistled through the branches but it couldn't be that.

She clearly heard words.

"I knew you'd come to see me."

A man's voice she knew that time and she felt the back of her neck prickle.

"Who is that?"

She felt a soft breeze caress the back of her neck and then her hair almost like fingers threading through it. She looked behind her but didn't see anything or anyone.

"You know who Rachel…"

"How did you…"

But he didn't let her finish.

"I know everything about you," the voice said, "I know more about you than anyone else…where you were born…what you ate for breakfast…about your parents' divorce…"

"Who are you?"

The voice remained patient with her, as if anticipating her surprise.

"I don't know everything about you."

She listened to the voice trying to place it but it sounded unfamiliar to her. But something in her compelled her to respond.

"What…don't you know?"

A pause in response and she still looked for the source of the voice.

"How it'll feel to slide my hard cock in between your legs…"

Come again, she thought?

"Oh you will come Rachel," he said, "if you're lucky more than once."

She felt self-conscious, how did he know her thoughts? As to his nastier comments, she felt herself flush and her face feel hot. He still remained invisible to her even as he spoke.

"What…why…who are you?"

"I'm everything you want," he said, "and you're everything I need."

She shook her head.

"I don't think so whoever you are," she said, "You sound like a pervert."

Laughter met her.

"Only because that's how you've been conditioned Rachel," the voice said, "but you're about to learn otherwise."

The certainty that marked his voice sent tingles through her. She felt some fear from what he said yet she also felt something more forbidden.

"What do you mean," she said, "Who are you? Why can't you show your face?

Another chuckle, this one harsher resounded almost as if surrounded her like the breeze that crossed over into the secluded area.

"I'm right in front of you."

Rachel looked there and she didn't see anything except a patch of thick grass with flowers decorating it of different colors.

"I don't see…"

"Then you're not looking because I'm right here and in a few moments, I'm going to be inside of you."

A chill ran through her at his words, but a tingle followed as she felt her body clench at the thought of what he'd just told her. She'd been a good girl most of her life and when she'd first came to this school; she had embraced its formalized and very rigid curriculum that extended to a way of life. Not that things forbidden still didn't call to her but she just ignored them. She knew that facing temptations was a part of life but she'd seen what it did to the other girls and she wanted no part of them.

"You really want to be like them," the voice continued, "Chaste and pure for the rest of your life?"

She bit her lip. Had she said anything out loud? She didn't think so but still somehow he had known. She turned around to get out of here feeling suddenly very creepy.

"You can't leave this place," he said, "Not until I'm finished."

Her stomach did some twisting and she started feeling this ache inside of her very low. Almost forbiddingly low in the place of her she couldn't think about if she wanted to stay in control.

"I can leave anytime I want," she said, "You can't tell me what to do. I can't even see you."

Then she felt something brush teasingly against her bare calf and suddenly she looked down. A greenish vine had moved, it sounded crazy but it had brushed against her. She hadn't noticed it before but her eyes must be playing tricks on her.

The man chuckled.

"We'll just see about that…"

She started to move her feet but then frowned. She looked down and saw that the vine had somehow worked its way around her ankles and slowly started to snake her legs. Trying to kick them apart didn't work and she just looked at the spot where he told her he stood.

Laughter greeted her. She felt the vine start to tighten around her legs, cutting of the circulation and another one join it. She felt the tap of it against her hips, oh god what was happening here?

"Don't worry it won't hurt," he said, "But I'm going to get what I want."

She just fought the vines as they began to tighten down her hips and then strands of what must be the strongest, thickest grass began to knit themselves in between the vines connecting them together in a tapestry.

She tried to scream but she felt she had no voice. The birds around her had stopped chirping, the smaller animals to stop scurrying. She heard something breath harder but she couldn't see what and then she felt the ground start to dissolve beneath her and her body start to drop.

"What the…"

"Don't fight it," the voice said, "It won't help you."

She struggled anyway but by this point the vines had reached her chest, binding her breasts. Strangely she didn't feel pain from constriction but the sensations that she felt instead were almost pleasurable. Yet it felt like something much stronger than gravity pulled her down through the earth. She saw the world fade away around her, and a voice laughing at her almost like the wind.

Then she closed her eyes bracing herself for disappearing entirely and she felt herself drop into a chamber with a thud. She felt dazed and then she noticed the vines had disappeared and she would move her body again.

"Hello again…"

She looked up and now she saw him standing in front of her.

"You're the…"

He nodded clearly amused.

"Yes I am the new landscaper," he said, "I saw you earlier today and knew I had to take you."

"Take me, how?"

The laughter rumbled in his chest this time.

"You'll see and so will they…"

Questions filled the inside of her head and she looked around her and noticed the chamber. The walls were solid rocks, boulders and in the corner of one, she saw a small waterfall trickling down from cracks in the wall.

Her eyes widened as she noticed some soft plushy looking material in the middle of the chamber.

"What is that?"

"Where I'll take you…"

She struggled to get up on her feet.

"I don't think so," she said, "What's your name anyway? Who are you?"

"I'm Dirk…I'm not from around town."

She knew that when she'd first saw him. He was much too handsome to be local and his eyes…something in their depths made it clear he wasn't one of them.

"I'm passing through from far away and yet very close."

"You're talking in riddles."

He arched a brow.

"So I am," he said, "But the truth might frighten you."

That chill intertwined with the tingling sensation that agitated her caused her to feel bolder.

"Why? I can handle anything."

"So you think," he said, "but right now we're in a chamber and there are those watching us."

"Who…more of you…"

He nodded.

"In a manner of speaking yes," he said, "but you'll forget that they're there."

She folded her arms.

"Oh I will…how," she said, "and what if I don't want to be here with you?"

He moved closer to her and she caught a whiff of something powerful, gamy that made her body not want to budge.

"Dirk…"

Soon his hands were on her stroking her hips, reaching in front of her and palming her breasts. They hardened so quickly, the nipples becoming like pebbles only they throbbed and all of a sudden for not the first time, she wanted a man to suckle them.

Only she wasn't sure Dirk was even a man.

She sighed as he squeezed her breasts gently and then kneaded them with his thumbs including her nipples which threatened to leap out through the fabric of her dress. He smiled at her.

"You're not wearing a bra I see…"

She wanted to protest but she just shrugged.

"Didn't feel like it."

"You feel good," he said, "your nipples want to be inside my mouth don't they?"

She just sighed again in response and his hands left her breasts. They felt the absence and the throbbing increased but then she felt another part of her body some distance away start to ache. Oh god, she her panties, were they getting damp? How could that be? She wasn't touching herself in that special way that she did underneath her bed sheets at night down here.

"Your pussy…I can feel that it wants me…"

She bit her lip wanting to tell him that he was imagining it and that she really had to get back to the school because if she didn't show up at afternoon prayers she might be missed. So many girls had gone missing in the past few months and had come back pregnant almost as if an epidemic had struck the school.

"You're dreaming…I must be dreaming…this can't be real."

His hands rested on her hips and they didn't feel like ordinary hands. They hugged her hips and she felt her body quake as his own pressed against it. Her eyes widened as she felt the hardness of him. Both in his muscular frame and even lower…She felt the heat in her face, blasting like a furnace. Something about that part of him…but then she felt even wetter in her panties. She knew that soon enough she'd feel dampness between her thighs. It had been that way when she'd rubbed herself at night to sleep but not this intense.

Never so intense…

"You like to be kissed?"

She murmured unable to answer because all she could think about was what Dirk had for her in between his legs sheathed in denim. But she felt him rub against the juncture in between her legs so subtly. She winced.

"Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head.

"Good because that'll ruin it."

Her brow furrowed. Ruin it, how? What the sisters had told her about men is that they were so driven by lust, they only thought of their own pleasure above all else. To fornicate outside of marriage was a sin of the worst kind.

Was he going to make her sin? Oh god, no she couldn't do that could she?

"Why?"

He sighed.

"Because this has to work and it will," he said, "Your skin feels so smooth under my fingers like satin."

She closed her eyes as she felt his hands slide towards her ass and grip the globes of it bunching up her flimsy dress.

"You feel so damn good," he said, "You'll feel better when we're together…"

He glanced over at the makeshift bed on the floor and she knew he wanted her there. But this was crazy, a few moments ago she'd wandered into the area of the vineyard.

Not sure why but had it been to reach this point?

Her dress started to creep slowly up her thighs baring them and the way his hands felt tickling the delicate inner skin…she moaned.

He seemed to like that as his hands reached up even higher until she felt some fingers lightly caress her panties. Heat filled her once again when she opened her eyes and saw his own change once he realized her secret.

She was very wet, and soon enough his fingers would feel the slickness there. That's when he started to guide her towards the bed.

She let him so caught up in the feelings which consumed her, threatening to burn.

"Let's go put on a good show…"

Her eyes blinked.

Show, what had she just gotten herself into with him? But she felt eyes staring at them even as she couldn't see them as they neared the place where he'd take her…