“Can a woman control a man? I don’t mean externally but internally and take possession of his faculties?”
Nate looks at me scrutinizing me so closely I can scarcely breathe.
“Is that what you think is happening here—your attractive grad student is not just seducing but possessing you?”
I hate questions—I’ve always hated questions, but these kinds of questions have always upended every paradigm I’ve established and crossed boundaries where I’m loathe to go for fear of losing my sanity.
“You’re the bloody shrink,” I growl in frustration, “If you don’t know, how do you expect me to cope?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t know—I’m asking you if this is what’s going on inside your mind.”
I stare at Nate helplessly,”I haven’t a clue what’s happening to me and I’m scared.”
“Did you sleep with her?” he whispers.
I nod solemnly.
“I hate what happened and don’t even know how I allowed myself to be seduced. But from the moment I let down my guard, I felt violated and powerless to resist her demands.”
Nate swivels in his chair and stares out at the Toronto skyline. It’s a spectacular view of a myriad of twinkling lights, a galaxy of infinite possibilities that overwhelms me.
But everything overwhelms me at this moment, because of Victoria and her occult powers.
I feel naked and defenceless for one simple reason—there’s no way I can hide from threats because there’s no distance in the spirit.
Put simply, Victoria is inside my head.
Once again, Nate seems to read my thoughts.
“Have you ever heard os transference of spirits?” he asks.
I shake my head. I’m out of my depth on this one.
“When you have sex with someone who is demonically possessed you open yourself to becoming demonized. You become one with the person and ‘know’ them, and by the same process, they ‘know’ you. It’s a predictable process. It begins with obsession that leads to oppression and ultimately possession. In short, you lose your soul.”
“Then, there’s no hope for me?” I croak.
“Not quite. The fact you’re repulsed and want to be free means that you haven’t completely surrendered.”
I grasp at that slender thread of hope.
“Then you can help me get free of his woman’s control?”
“I can support you emotionally, within the realm of my psychiatric practice, but this is a spiritual matter and I’ll need to refer you to someone who can tear down this stronghold and exorcise this spirit.”
“Has it come to this?” I rasp in despair.
Nate reassuringly pats me on the shoulder. “Not to worry—I know you’re Catholic and I know just the priest who can help you. But in the meantime, you need to avoid this woman completely.”
“But how can I do that? She’s in my graduate seminar.”
“Simple,” Nate shrugs, “I’ll write you a medical note for stress leave and inform your employer that you’re temporarily unable to work and need a leave of absence for treatment and recovery“
I left Nate’s office with a referral to a Father David Breton, the arch-diocesan exorcist, and a prescription for clonazepam, an anti-anxiety medicine.
My thoughts were whirling and my body trembling but part of me was calm—I was getting help.
All I needed to do was stay away from the university and avoid Victoria.
That’s not too difficult a task, I consoled myself…
Little did I know then how naive that view was or how powerful a foothold she had already established in my life.
