The Sacrament: A Religious Horror Anthology


 
 The Sacrament: A Religious Horror Anthology
 
 
 
 Kelly Brockelhurst and Jamie Stewart
 
 
 Published by DarkLit Press, 2023.
 
 
 Copyright © 2023 belongs to the featured authors in this book. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, redistributed, or resold without the author’s permission. 
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 DarkLit Press supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture. We thank you for purchasing an authorized copy of this book. We appreciate your support of the author’s rights. 
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 The Publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that is not owned by the publisher. 
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 All rights reserved. 
 Table of Contents
 Title Page
 Copyright Page
 The Sacrament: A Religious Horror Anthology
 INTRODUCTION
 THE HELL THAT I DESERVE
 SMILE AND SAY YOUR PRAYERS
 BROTHER MINE
 SEMINARY
 THE SANGUINE RAILS OF GREENDON VALE
 THE PATRON SAINT OF MONSTERS
 A BROTHER’S LOVE
 DANDYANDY FITNESS
 THE TESTIMONIALS OF LANA BLUE
 VESTIGIAL
 BLOOD MOTHER
 THE WORD OF NELLIE
 A NOTE FROM DARKLIT PRESS
 FEATURED | AUTHORS
 CONTENT WARNINGS
 OTHER BOOKS FROM
 DARKLIT PRESS
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 Noose by Brennan LaFaro
 Inside Out by Lor Gislason
 Femina: A Collection of Dark Fiction by Caitlin Marceau
 This is Where We Talk Things Out by Caitlin Marceau
 Slice of Paradise: A Beach Vacation Horror Anthology
 Beach Bodies: A Beach Vacation Horror Anthology
 Dark Lines: Haunting Tales of Horror by Jack Harding
 Ripper Country: A Collection by Jack Harding
 Those You Killed by Christopher Badcock
 Lessons in Demoralization by Nikki R. Leigh
 CONTENT WARNING
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 The story that follows may contain graphic violence and gore.
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 Please go to the very back of the book for more detailed content warnings.
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 Beware of spoilers. INTRODUCTION
 By Ross Jeffery
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 This anthology you hold in your hands is a special thing indeed, for it delves into the most sacred of things, and that my dear friends is religious horror. 
 The title ‘The Sacrament’ is very apt. In the Roman Catholic Church, The Sacrament constitutes the consecrated elements of the Eucharist especially the wine and the bread or as it is referred to often, the Host. Believer or non-believer will recognise that symbol, that ritual and tradition, with many of us knowing it was Jesus himself who performed the first communion with his disciples. 
 
 26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.”
 
 27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, “Each of you drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant[d] between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many. 29 Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
 
 Matthew 26:26-29
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 As the scripture above points out, and as many of us (believers or non-believers) understand, this Sacrament is symbolic of the blood and flesh of Christ – I won’t go into transubstantiation here, because this isn’t a sermon it’s an introduction, but check it out if you’re interested, it makes for some interesting reading and food for thought. 
 Blood and flesh, poured out and broken... for us. 
 Is there horror without these two things? 
 Blood and flesh.
 Quite possibly, but that horror is not the horror we are talking about here. The Sacrament and the stories within force us to look inwards, at ourselves and our hearts, at what man or woman reveres and sometimes as you will find out, even worship. 
 Are we all not all made of blood and flesh, and are not the horrors we commit to one another implemented by our hands and formed in our minds. The most heinous acts of horror we read about in the news are committed by people, people just like you and me, made of flesh and blood... but these acts, these atrocities carried out in the real world also exist in the fictional tales, worlds and lives we traverse whilst reading The Sacrament. 
 Evil exists in this world, it always has and it always will. Whether that evil is found in the body or the mind it will be poured out, poured onto the earth by a corrupt vessel – the Host. A person, a body surrounded by blood and flesh – the sacrament.
 The stories you will find in this anthology traverse many themes of the religious, from cults to end of times tales, from religious piety to the awe of the unknown, from religious iconography of the past to that of new religions and new beliefs and new iconography in the form of everyday objects. 
 I will not delve into the stories here, but one I feel deserves special mention, a tale which ensnared me with its take on religion, and a new religion at that was DandyAndyFitness, by Caitlin Marceau. 
 You will find no spoilers here (I do hate it when an introduction spoils what is to come), but what Caitlin Marceau was able to achieve with this story is nothing short of masterful. We catch a glimpse of something new, something almost transcendent in its delivery, but also something wholly devout and troublesome. It’s the realness of this story that is most shocking, how our protagonist is not only devout in her beliefs, but also radicalised in her calling – which makes for a very chilling read in the times we are living through.
 Let me just clarify, being radical isn’t