The phone rang. Jason didn't move from his bed. The ringing stopped after three times.

"Jason, it's for you!" came his mother's shout from downstairs.

Jason stirred for the first time in an hour, turning over in bed and sitting up. His eyes were red and puffy. "Who is it?" he called out in a slightly strained voice.

"I'm not your secretary, Jason. Pick up your extension and find out."

Jason sighed and crossed the room, plopping himself down into the chair near the phone. He snatched the extension off the hook. "Hello?"

"Jason, it's me, Cassie!"

Jason blinked in surprise. "Cassie? Why are ...?" He stopped himself and yanked the drawer open, though he already heard the click of the other line being hung up rather abruptly. Nevertheless he made sure and checked the LED. His parents were already upset with him for getting out of his chores that day. He didn't want to risk that they might retaliate by listening in on his phone calls.

"Jason, I don't have a lot of time, I'm using my Mom's cell phone without her knowing."

"Is something wrong?" Jason said, his voice catching in his throat. He didn't need to have another problem now. He didn't need to lose someone else.

Not that anyone else mattered to him as much as Melinda did.

"I was going to ask you that," Cassie said in a hollow voice. "What's wrong?"

Jason took a deep breath to stop himself from breaking down. It didn't work. "I didn't stop her, Cassie," he said, several tears streaming down his cheeks. "I c-couldn't stop Heather."

"Couldn't stop ... oh my God ... she wasn't ...?"

"She was. She ... sh-she had the aura."

"Jason, what's wrong?! Why are you so upset?"

Jason sniffled and wiped at his eyes in annoyance. "Heather was after Melinda."

There was a gasp at the other end. When no other sound came, Jason guessed she was too stunned -- and perhaps revolted as well -- to speak.

"Cassie, I should have seen this!" Jason exploded, pounding a fist on the desk. "I should have known this was going to happen!"

"You couldn't possibly have known she was going to go after her own sister!"

"Yes, I could! I could because ... because of what happened at the House."

Cassie took a deep breath at her end. "Y-you better not tell me the details of that right now, Jason," she said in a shaky voice.

"What difference does it make anyway? I lost her! I failed! I might as well just let Nyssa do whatever the hell she wants after this!"

"No, Jason, don't say that, please!" Cassie said desperately. "We need you!"

"We? What 'we'?! There is no 'we'! There's you and me, that's it!"

"What about Richie?"

Jason made a disgusted noise. "He can go fuck himself for all I care at this point."

Cassie sighed. "I had a feeling this was going to happen."

"I don't know what the hell is up with him! He wouldn't even do so much as go down to Heather's house for me! I mean, it wouldn't have done any good, but that's not the point! And then when I said I needed him after he got back from his trip to his relatives, he just blew me off! Said he had big plans. Said he ..."

Jason stopped.

"What is it?" Cassie said into the silence.

"Cassie, do you remember seeing him at all after lunch yesterday?"

"No, I don't."

"Neither do I. He stayed behind in detention. Wait a minute. I sent him an email yesterday about what we did and he replied to it really fast."

"Um, okay. What does that mean?"

"It means he was inside Friday afternoon. He's never in the house on a Friday. He always goes and chases down his friends to play some baseball."

"So he stayed in yesterday?"

"Yeah, he did. Why would he do that unless he was hiding something?"

"An aura?" Cassie said in a tiny voice.

"Heather made sure to hide herself from Melinda until ... u-until she was alone." Jason had to pause to wipe another tear from his eye. "She knew Melinda would see it. She knew we'd all see it. Richie's doing the same thing. It's why he refused to help me. It makes sense, Cassie! He's going after someone today and I have to stop it!"

"Jason, I-I don't understand all that, but if you need to make sure ..."

"I'll talk to you later, Cassie, goodbye!"

He slammed the phone down and tore out of his room. He bounded down the stairs and was out the door before anyone could stop him. When his father called out to him sternly from the house as he got on his bike, he just waved and shouted, "Be back in twenty minutes!"

Jason knew he was going to get in trouble for that, but he didn't care. He pedaled madly down the block, swerving so hard around the corner at the intersection that the wheels nearly slid out from under him. He tightened his jaw and steadfastly held back any more tears as he sped past the Sovert household.

Up ahead, Richie was on his own bicycle. He turned at the end of his driveway and into the street, heading away from Jason in the same direction. The trailing tendrils of Darkness confirmed his suspicions. He lifted himself from the seat and pedaled hard.

Ahead, Richie started around the curve of Green Avenue. He turned his head and glanced back. Then he was pumping his bike furiously as well.

"Oh no you don't, you bastard," Jason snarled and pushed himself harder. He kept his gaze tightly focused on Richie and the shroud of inky black around him. Never had his utter hatred of that been so strong, and it gave him an added burst of speed. His leg muscles screamed as he slowly closed the distance.

Richie crossed an intersection without slowing. Jason did the same, swerving into the wheelchair access. Richie managed to avoid the pothole in the road, but Jason caught the edge of it, the jarring thump catching the tip of his tongue in his teeth. He ignored the flare of pain and the coppery taste in his mouth as he bore down on Richie.

Richie took another glance behind him at the wrong moment. He hit a place where one sidewalk slab had settled. The jarring thump against the lip with the next slab made him falter. As he regained control, Jason rammed him, and both bikes careened to the side and crashed into a line of bushes.

Jason disentangled himself first and leapt back. As he had thought, Richie came up with his fists swinging, throwing a punch where he thought Jason might be. When he saw that he had missed cleanly, he just stood and fumed at Jason. "What the fuck, man?! What's the big fuckin' ass deal?!"

"Maybe there isn't one," Jason said coolly. "Maybe I just wanted to see my good friend Richie."

"Oh yeah? Why the fuck were you chasing me?"

"Why the fuck were you running?"

Richie did not reply at first.

"You can't do it, Richie."

"Like hell I can't."

"Richie, I know what the problem is. Heather told me. I understand. You can't resist this. But I can stop you."

"Heather told you? What the fuck would she know about this?"

"Nyssa took her, Richie."

Richie opened his mouth and then closed it without saying a word.

"And Heather took Melinda."

Richie snorted weakly. "Yeah, so?"

"I couldn't stop it. But I heard Heather tell me something that makes me understand this better."

"I'm not listening to this bullshit," Richie grumbled and started to pull his bike from the bushes.

"Go ahead," Jason said. He staggered for a moment when he went for his own bike, his leg muscles having stiffened from the brief respite. They now hurt badly, and the pain could be seen in his eyes. "I'll follow you. And I'll stop you at the right moment."

Jason heard Richie throw his bike down before he saw it. By the time he had managed to turn his head, Richie had shoved him hard in the chest. Jason stumbled back and fell hard to the ground on his rear to the concrete sidewalk. Pain flared and made stars appear at the edges of his vision. He was too stunned by it to move at first.

When he looked up, he saw Richie had his fists up. At the same time, Richie looked reluctant to advance and finish the job.

"Jason, don't fuckin' make me hurt you. I'll fuckin' pound you, Jason! I'll fuckin' kick your nerd ass back to your house!"

Jason struggled to rise to his feet. He winced as his bruised backside protested. He looked at Richie not in fear or anger, but genuine confusion. There were tears in Richie's eyes as much as there was hatred in his voice.

"Look, I'm sorry about Heather and Melinda, okay?!" Richie cried, lowering his fists. He swiped at one eye in annoyance and sniffled once. "What did you want me to do about it? I can't! I can't do nothing against that!"

"Yeah, I know," Jason said, his eyes flicking over his aura. "Now I know, anyway."

It was happening with Richie as well. Emotions and impressions leapt out at Jason when he gazed at the Darkness. Had Richie not already made it obvious he had given himself to Nyssa, Jason would have discerned the same thing just looking at him now.

Richie shook his head. "Naw, man, that's not the whole story," he said in a softer voice.

Jason just looked at him expectantly.

"This is too big, dude. Way too big. We were outclassed before we started."

Jason swallowed but said nothing. Richie was hitting too close to home to his own realizations earlier.

"I can't deal with that. I can't fight that. So I didn't bother."

Jason's eyes became cold. He tried to fend off the sympathy he had started to feel for Richie, and replace it with the anger that he felt was justified. "You went to Nyssa yourself. You volunteered. You didn't wait to be called."

"Yeah, I went to her myself. And now I'll get what I want. And now I'm safe."

"You fucking idiot."

Richie just stared at Jason, too nonplussed to reply.

"Richie, ever hear of someone named Benjamin Franklin?"

"Uh, yeah. Flew a kite in a storm or something, right? But what does that ... "

"He had a famous saying. Want to hear it? It went like this: Those who would trade liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."

Richie snorted. "Well, he was full of shit. This ain't temporary, this ..."

"Richie, get a fucking clue!!"

Richie fell silent.

"Nyssa is using you! The Darkness is using you! You think it cares for your happiness? You're just a pawn. Look at your mother, Richie!"

"You keep her the hell out of this!" Richie yelled, shaking a fist at him, his voice cracking badly.

Jason ignored it and stepped right up to him. His anger had carried him far beyond fear at this point. "Look at her. She's part of the Darkness. Stop denying it! You think she's happy?"

"Happy enough to get horizontal with anything that moves!"

"And you think that's a sign of happiness? You think if she was happy she'd be getting on your case all the time, calling you names, not caring about your welfare or ..."

Richie gave him another hard shove backwards, but it was half-hearted at best. This time Jason maintained his balance and stayed on his feet.

"Richie, you understand, don't you? You understood before the rest of us did. I only just figured it out myself today."

Richie said nothing.

"It's not just Nyssa. She's not the Darkness. We were wrong. The Darkness is not a creature or a being, is it? Nyssa' just a servant of it. It's Haven. It's the town. The Darkness is part of it, or under it, or something. You figured it out. You knew. And you didn't tell us."

"And have you do what?!" Richie cried. "How the fuck do you fight that?! You can't!"

"So you're saying we should give into it? Like you did?"

Richie took a few breaths before responding. "Dude, you can do whatever the hell you want from now on." He went over and fetched his bike. "Cuz I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want."

Jason didn't bother getting on his bike. There was no point. If Richie truly wanted to do this, there was nothing Jason could do to stop him.

That was another insight that Jason had realized. They had a chance with the others because deep in their minds they were fighting the control. They were taken unwillingly. They helped themselves get caught.

It made sense. How else was it so easy to track Becky? How did Cassie manage her stroke of luck? That's why the Darkness was so quick to depart when the moment was disrupted. It gave their captured wills a chance to rattle the cage and break free.

In a way, it made the loss of Heather and Melinda more painful. He had been so close. Had their mother not been there, Jason would have broken them free. Even Heather had been reluctant to try and take Melinda back at first. Ultimately, Jason was not at fault. In the case of Ned and Becky, there had not been another already slaved to the Darkness attempting to thwart the rescue.

"And the person you're going to enslave?" Jason asked in an icy voice. "Did she get a chance to 'volunteer,' Richie?"

Richie mounted his bicycle. "Oh, yeah, in spades. Back during the summer. She volunteered big time."

Jason's eyes widened. "Not ... not Linda Davis?"

Richie rolled his eyes. "So whatcha gonna do now? Give me grief for fucking a teacher?"

Jason sighed. "Not that it would do any good. Even if you wanted to resist."

Richie paused a moment and then just shook his head. He kicked off and pedaled his bike away from the scene, heading as fast as he could.

Melinda could barely move, her body limp as a rag doll on the bed. Her head lolled to one side, her eyes closed, he breathing ragged. Her bosom rose and fell quickly, the nipples hard little nubs on her young mounds. What little rational mind she had left after that morning was drowning in a sea of pleasure.

The only sound was that of her own breathing and soft moaning. Her legs lay splayed, her thighs aching from having been stretched apart for so long. Her pussy ached from so many orgasms. She didn't care anymore.

Heather's tongue swirled against her clit, making Melinda pant harder. Even after all this time, her pussy was still wet. It had not stopped being wet since she had been enslaved. Sometimes when she thought about what had happened to her, she shuddered in leftover fear and revulsion, but it was quickly countered with more delightfully erotic thoughts. She was rewarded for thinking of herself as a slave. The more she thought it, the better it felt.

Even now it made her rise faster, her pussy straining and her body quivering. Heather responded, sliding her fingers into Melinda's tight cunt. Melinda squealed as they sank into her, stretching her folds and turning delight into ecstasy. She again came, her pussy throbbing and pulsing around Heather's fingers, and again she felt a moment of mindless bliss.

She came down slowly, reluctant to let go of that moment. It was wonderful feeling so free of responsibility. She had no cares and no worries in that moment. When Heather drew her body over Melinda's, Melinda moaned and embraced her tightly. Heather could feel Melinda trembling against her.

"More ..." Melinda whimpered softly into Heather's ear. "Please, Mistress, more ..."

"Not right now, baby sis," Heather said gently.

"It just feels so nice ... so wonderful ..."

Heather smiled and kissed her. Melinda shivered as she tasted her own juices on her big sister's lips. Melinda had no idea that part of her desire to submit again to the pleasure, to let her mind be taken from her completely was coming from her former self. Still locked up in her mind was what she had been before being touched by the Darkness. It could see what was happening to her.

To be mindless was preferable to seeing what was happening to her and have no power to stop it.

Heather smiled at her little sister. Suddenly Melinda gasped as she felt Heather's fingers touching her folds.

"You know, I think it would be cool to keep you a little wet all the time," Heather cooed. "Just a little horny all the time. Do you know why?"

"So I ... uhhn! ... I c-can be your good little girl all the time ..."

"That's right. You'll like that, won't you?"

"Yes, Mistress ..."

Heather withdrew her fingers and rolled from the bed and onto her feet. She gazed down at Melinda. "That's all for now, baby sis. Go take a quick shower, but don't bother getting dressed. I want to keep looking at your cute little naked body."

Melinda giggled at this and blushed slightly. She happily bounded from the bed and dashed into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Heather stared at the closed door for a moment before slowly sitting back down on the edge of the bed. Slowly, as the initial euphoria of playing with her new slave began to wear off, her eyes clouded over. Despite the hold the Darkness had on her, it was not complete. It would not be complete until her mind gave up its remaining resistance. It would get harder and harder each time she experienced pleasure from her little sister. Each time she would want less and less to return to the way things were.

Somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind she had a lucid thought. This was not the way someone enslaved to Nyssa should act. None of the others did. Even when Cassie was taken, she gave into her fantasy willingly. It was not until she was stopped and the Darkness released her that she felt remorse. And even then she had told Melinda she would do it again if she had the chance.

But Heather was different.

This was not her desire. She had not had any sexual lust for her little sister until after the House. Something had changed her, and her mind had been trying to reject it when she was forced to embrace it instead. The conflict was still there. The Darkness had not managed to eliminate it yet.

She heard the shower start to run. She imagined the water running over Melinda's smooth, supple body and shivered, her pussy aching to be satisfied again.

Yes, it was going to get harder every time. Each time it would be more difficult to keep the conflict going and maintain some part of herself that wanted to escape this fate. But she had no idea how to escape, or if anyone could help her escape.

I'm so sorry, Melinda, she thought. As she began fingering herself, before it was lost to the pleasure of the moment, she had one last lucid thought: who was truly the mistress, and who was truly the slave?

Or was she simply fooling herself? The answer was none of the above. They were both slaves now.

Linda felt anxious the entire morning. Part of it was anxiety over what she knew was going to happen. Part of it was anxiety over the possibility of it not happening.

She had hoped that a night's sleep would rid her of the desires that Richie had somehow planted in her head. Instead, it made them worse. She woke up with the sheets on the bed in disarray and her pussy wet and aching. Somehow she realized only then that she had slept in the nude.

Why? Somehow she knew Richie would like it.

When she rose and went about her normal morning routine, it never entered her head to put any clothes on at all. She wandered about her house as naked as when she went to bed. Her pussy stayed damp the whole time. Richie's voice from the day before kept echoing in her head over and over, keeping her lightly aroused.

When the doorbell finally rang late that morning, her heart thumped in both fear and excitement.

She answered the door, and then immediately stepped back when Richie boldly stepped inside without waiting for an invite, kicking the door closed behind him. He swept his gaze over Linda's body and grinned. "Yeah, that's nice," he commented in a low voice.

Linda shuddered and uttered a soft moan. Her pussy grew hot and swollen, her nipples two hard, sensitized nubs that tingled madly. Raw lust swept over her like a tidal wave, making coherent, rational thought impossible.

"Nice and fuckable," Richie added, taking a step towards her.

Linda whimpered, panting hard. Her mound glistened. Her nipples seemed to throb as they became erect. "R-Richie ..." she moaned, struggling hard against the constant waves of pleasure and sexual desire. It was like trying to swim against a riptide. "D-Don't ... please ..."

Richie gave her an evil smile, but it faltered for a moment.

(Did she get a chance to 'volunteer,' Richie?)

For a moment, there was doubt in his mind. Just as it had attempted to manifest in the street with Jason, now it tried to well up from his subconscious again as he was about to do the deed. It had an uphill battle. Nyssa's desires had already made themselves known to him. It was not something he could resist for long.

And yet, it was the first time that he actually thought about resisting, that he actually questioned the decision he had made.

(control ... or be controlled ...)

He paused and sighed deeply. The flicker of rebellion was fading. This was all he could do. After this, he would be safe. Jason was wrong. Yes, he would be enslaved to Nyssa. But what would she possibly ask of him? He had nothing to offer her. He was a nobody.

Well, almost a nobody. Now he had his own little bit of power. Now he had something where he could call the shots, and no one could take it away from him. Finally. And maybe he could use it some day to take control of his mother.

Just so someone else -- someone faceless -- no longer had control.

But in the meantime, he had to finish what he had started. He had to take control. He had to begin somewhere.

"Don't tell me what to do," Richie said to her sharply. "I give the orders here, got it?"

Linda closed her eyes as his words overwhelmed the tiny bit of resistance she had mustered. Hearing his voice had been arousing. Hearing him command her was just short of ecstasy. Her pussy throbbed faintly, as swollen and aching at it was.

"Get on your knees."

Linda obeyed, quickly dropping to her knees, spreading them apart. She burned with desire to touch herself. She needed to cum. The need was growing greater by the second. Somehow she knew it was the point of no return. Once that happened, she was his. But as much as the small part of her that was still Linda Davis screamed against it, the rest of her mind and body desired it badly.

"Yeah, you wanna cum, all right," Richie said, knowing exactly what was happening, since it had been orchestrated in his mind ever since that time he first saw her. "But not until you tell me what's gonna happen when you do."

"I'll ... I-I'll ... I'll be your slave ..." Linda said, the back of her mind still managing to put up some resistance, making her voice halting and strained.

"More than that. Go on, tell me. Tell me what you'll be!"

"Y-your ... your fuckable slut ..."

"Say it again!"

"Your fuckable slut! I-I want to be your fuckable slut!"

Richie started undoing his belt. Linda's darkened eyes stared at the bulge in his crotch with anticipation, licking her lips. "Yeah, and you know what we'll do just for giggles? You can still get to be a teacher. You can act sort of more normal then, got it?"

Linda swallowed and nodded quickly. Her pussy strained for release, her body trembling badly. She felt as if she were on the excruciating edge of orgasm.

Richie smirked. "And I can be the teacher's pet. But we'll know what the real thing is, huh?"

Richie dropped his pants and stepped out of them, kicking them aside. His cock was stiff and pressed against the fabric of his briefs. Linda's eyes became half-lidded, and she moaned in desire and need as she stared at it, her lips already parting as if to receive it.

"Yeah, and you want that, doncha?" he said, playing with the waistband of his briefs. "Well, you're gonna get it in every way I can think of. And you're gonna love it."

Linda was so hyper-aroused that it was too much to bear. "Please, please let me cum! ... oh God ... please ... I'll do anything you want ... just let me cum ..."

Richie smiled. "Anything?"

Linda clutched at him, looking up in utter submissiveness. "Fuck me ... any way you want ... fuck me over and over ... I'm your slut ... I'm your toy ... please ... p-please ... uhhh ... uhhhhn! ... ahhhhh!!"

Linda's pussy throbbed hard, her orgasm seeming to spread through her whole body. Her nipples pulsed in time to it, sending even more pleasure through her body like bolts of electricity, making her body jerk and writhe. Her fingers curled as it rose up into her mind, her body shaking for a few seconds in a final bit of resistance. It was swept away on a tide of sexual ecstasy, leaving behind nothing but a state of total bliss and contentment.

When it finally faded, her body relaxed. She looked up with a glazed gaze of total devotion and subservience. Yet she knew already what her first command would be, and she already attended to the task. She grabbed Richie's briefs and pulled them down his legs, his pulsing cock bobbing free.

Richie drew in a deep breath and let it go as an excited sigh as he stepped out of the briefs and kicked them to the side as well. Linda wrapped her fingers around his cock and slipped her wet lips around the head and down the shaft.

Linda closed her eyes and bobbed her head up and down on his cock, her movements smooth and skilled. Richie panted lightly as he felt himself rise. "Yeah, you've done this before, I can tell," he said in a husky voice. "You were a slut from the start."

Linda shivered in delight at hearing his praise. She tilted her head back, pressing her tongue against the underside of his cock, taking it more slowly each time she drew her head back. She stroked him more deeply this way, eliciting moans of approval from her master.

"Oh yeah ... yeah, I knew you'd be good at this ... oh man ..."

Flickers of memory went through Richie's head. He remembered the times he had been in control of Heather, and how skilled the House had made her. He wondered idly if this was what was happening now, that his power over her somehow gave her this skill.

Linda was moving faster now, pumping her head up and down his cock one way while her fingers deeply stroked him the other. Richie was moaning constantly now, his fingers curling as he soared upwards. Linda's own lust was rekindled, her pussy already growing wet again. She fingered herself lightly, uttering muffled moans of pleasure through her nose.

"Yeah, keep doin' that ..." Richie said in a strained voice. "Keep fingering your cunt ... just keep doing that ... oh man ..."

After that point, coherent speech was impossible as he reached the edge, Linda's mouth moving fast and hard around his cock. He uttered a small whimper as he hung at the edge for a moment, becoming a deep guttural groan as he began to throb.

Linda panted with excitement as she tasted his warm seed squirting hard from his manhood. She drew back slightly, keeping his head in her mouth, milking the rest of his cock with her fingers. She kept his orgasm going for a respectable time, pausing to draw back enough to swallow, then leaning forward again to lick the last few oozing drops from him.

Richie sighed in satisfaction and grinned at her. She let him drop from her mouth and looked up with eyes of desire and submissiveness. Her fingers continued to move slowly in her slot, making a faint squishing noise. She panted lightly through parted lips.

"Yeah, I like that," Richie said as he looked her over. "You do that whenever we're together like this in private, okay? You play with your pussy like that but don't cum. You never cum yourself unless my cock's in your twat, you got it?"

"Yes, Master," Linda said in a breathy voice. "Please ... will you do that later? Will you fuck my pussy?"

Richie grinned and grabbed her breasts, kneading them roughly in his hands. Linda gasped and moaned loudly, shuddering with pleasure.

"Oh, yeah, I will," Richie said. "And lots of other stuff in the meantime ..."

Jason's parents had been just about as upset with him as he had thought they would be. When they had asked him just where he had gone and why, he had responded tersely, "To stop someone from doing something stupid."

That had given them pause for a moment, but his father had recovered quickly and grounded him for the weekend. Jason didn't care. It was not like being able to get around town would help him, not with Melinda in Heather's thrall. He had to hope that Melinda would have some semblance of her mind back when she went to school on Monday.

Jason brooded in his room. There was little else that he could do, as bruised as his backside and tail bone felt from the fall. He had to hope he didn't break anything. He had little appetite for lunch and thus skipped it despite his mother's insistence.

Most of all, he did not want to see his father.

Now he was sure that something had changed about his ability to see auras. The sudden clarity of the patterns he was seeing had not been confined to Heather and Richie. Now he was seeing them in every aura he witnessed. When he looked at the miasma around his father long enough, he got the disconcerting sensation of a voice whispering in the recesses of his mind, as if trying to convey a message to him.

And he did not like what that message was saying.

Sometime in the early afternoon, the phone rang. He didn't bother answering it. Even if it were Cassie, he didn't want to talk to her. Especially if it were her. He didn't want to have to explain another failure to her.

"Jason, it's for you!" shouted his mother from downstairs.

"I really don't want to talk to anyone, Mom," Jason called out.

"What did I tell you about not being your secretary?"

Jason was in no mood for this. He leapt out of bed despite the pain and stood at the door. He shouted down the stairs, "I know, you've told me like a million times already! Look, just do me a favor for once? If it's Cassie, just give her the message 'I failed.' She'll know what it ..."

"Jason, I will not play these games with you! And she said her name was Diane, not Cassie. Now pick up the damn phone!"

Jason furrowed his brow. Diane? Where had he heard that name before? He stepped over to his phone and picked it up. "Hello?"

There was a loud click as his mother hung up in a huff. Jason yanked the drawer out and checked the LED anyway. It was dark.

"Jason, I-I don't know if you know me or not," said a quavering voice at the other end. "But I'm Diane Woodrow, Heather's friend."

"Oh! Yes, I know you. Well, indirectly. Yes, you're Heather's best friend, right?"

A sigh at the other end. "Well, I don't know anymore. I've been trying to reach her all morning."

Jason swallowed. "She's, um, been busy this morning," he said in as even a voice as possible.

"Jason, if something is wrong with her, please tell me. I have to know."

Jason bit his lip.

"Jason, please! Last week she said she was going to tell me something about what's going on at the school, about something wrong with the school nurse ..."

Jason's eyes opened wide. "She was what??"

"Please, don't be angry with me, okay? I pushed her into it. I knew she was going off with you and some of your friends for some reason. And then my Mom started acting all weird after she went down to the school to complain about the medical program, and then when she said she'd call me and talk to me about it and then never did, I ..."

"Wait, wait, slow down!" Jason said, running a hand through his hair. He stepped from the phone and kicked the door to his room closed. "One thing at a time. Start over from the beginning and go a little more slowly."

He heard a deep intake of breath at the other end before Diane told her story. She still rushed it a bit, but at least now he understood what was happening. She started with her misgivings about her friendship with Heather and ended with the day Heather said she would let her in on everything.

When she finished, Jason let out a long sigh.

"Something's happened to Heather, hasn't it?" Diane said in a panicked voice. "Because I made her talk to me about it!"

"No, Diane. I mean, yes, I'm sorry, something did happen to her, but it's not your fault. It had nothing to do with what she told you."

"What happened to her? Is she hurt?"

"No, not hurt. Not in the way you're thinking."

"Then how? What happened?"

Jason hesitated. "Um ..."

"Don't do this to me, okay! Don't keep it a secret anymore! What's going on? From the way I've seen my Mom act, and from the way I've seen Debby and Karen act at school, you don't have to worry if you think I won't believe you. At this point, I'll believe anything!"

Would Diane understand? She couldn't see the auras. It wouldn't be the same if he could not point to an aura. But he was desperate. He needed allies. And he needed more people that could convince others like Ned and Becky to help them.

"All right, Diane," he said in a lower voice. "Are you alone?"

"Yes, my parents are out right now, I'm alone."

"Okay, then I'll try and explain what's going on ..."

"Thank you for taking me to lunch again, Miss Bendon," Marcie said.

Laura smiled as she walked Marcie back to her apartment. "It was my pleasure."

Marcie gave her an uneasy smile and looked away.

"Something the matter, Marcie?"

"Um, well, not really, Miss Bendon."

"Hmm, that's not what that look said. Please, you can tell me."

Marcie remained silent a few moments longer until they came to the front door of her apartment building. She turned and raised her gaze to Laura's, though her eyes flicked back and forth nervously. "I just ... I just need to know, Miss Bendon ..."

"Yes?"

"Why are you being so nice to me? No one's ever been this nice to me before."

"No one?" Laura said, sounding surprised. "That is such a tragedy. No one decided to get to know you better?"

Marcie sighed. "Why would they want to, Miss Bendon?"

"Now, now, haven't we been through this before?" asked Laura in a mildly admonishing tone.

"Well, I know you like me, Miss Bendon, but ..."

"But that's all that matters."

Marcie blinked. "Huh?"

Laura fixed her gaze on Marcie's eyes. "That's all that matters," she said softly.

Marcie stared. "Uh ..."

"What matters most, Marcie, is what I think of you. Remember that."

Marcie slowly nodded. "Yes ... yes, Miss Bendon ... but ... b-but ..."

"Shh." Laura placed a finger to Marcie's lips. Marcie shivered slightly. "No 'buts.' Anyway ... isn't it far better to think about how pleasing you are to someone you know so well?"

Marcie took a deep breath and let it go, her skin feeling flushed.

"And I find you quite pleasing. And my little present to you ... didn't that make you feel sexy?"

Marcie blushed. "Oh my ... M-Miss Bendon, about that ..."

"Did it make you feel sexy?"

"Y-yes ... yes, it did ..."

"Did it make you excited?"

Marcie swallowed. "Yes," she said in a husky voice. "Very much so, Miss Bendon."

"Aroused as well?"

Marcie uttered a tiny whimper. "I ... y-yes ... yes, it did ... "

"Don't be ashamed of that, Marcie," Laura said, her voice like honey. "I'm very glad it gave you such pleasure."

Marcie shivered again at the memory. She had never had orgasms like that in her entire life. It didn't seem possible now that it had happened at all. Yet as she thought about it now, she felt growing heat in her sex. She was so astonished that her eyes went wide.

"And of course you want to experience it again."

"Oh God, yes," Marcie moaned. She blinked a few times and her cheeks went scarlet. " ... uh ... I-I mean ..."

Laura simply smiled and pulled back from her. "Go try them on again today."

"T-Today?"

"If they make you feel sexy, and feeling sexy feels good, why not feel good all the time?"

Marcie nodded. "Of course, Miss Bendon."

"I want to take you out again. Tomorrow night."

"Okay. Tomorrow night."

"And ... wear what I gave you."

Marcie uttered a scandalized gasp. "What??"

"Remember what I said. It matters what I feel towards you. Don't you want to please me?"

"But ... yes, Miss Bendon, always ..."

"Then it would please me for you to wear it, so you can feel sexy for me."

Marcie was panting lightly. The warmth in her sex had turned to a moist heat.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Marcie." Laura smiled and turned away, walking down the block to where she had parked her car.

Marcie stood there a moment, quivering slightly, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Slowly she was starting to understand that something was out of place. Something was not right. As enjoyable as it was, some part of her realized that it was going in a direction that she was not sure she wanted.

All she was sure of was that Laura's words -- and the thoughts they now left in their wake -- were arousing her again. She needed relief. And she would make sure to put on the underwear before she sought it.

There was complete silence at the other end of the phone for a few moments.

"Mind control?" came Diane's small voice at the other end, badly quavering. "This ... this is all about m-mind control?"

"That's what it comes down to, yeah," Jason said.

"But ... but where is this coming from? Where is this power coming from?"

"From the Darkness itself I would think."

"But what is it? What is the ... the Darkness?"

"If you want me to point to a person or a place, I can't. It's all around us. It's part of the town itself. Maybe it's stronger in some places than in others, but it can influence people."

"And you're saying my mother ... my mother is ... oh my God ..."

Jason heard a sob at the other end.

"Diane, please, don't cry," Jason said desperately. He didn't want to deal with someone having an emotional breakdown on him. His own emotional state was far too fragile to handle it. "Your mother is not really hurt. She's not all that controlled, either, just ... uh, adjusted ... so she doesn't question the medical program."

"But she's touched by it, so now it can influence her, right?" demanded Diane. "Tell me the truth, Jason!"

Jason sighed. "Yeah, it's possible."

"Jason ... I ... I don't know how to put this but ... the other day, I found her ... p-playing with herself ..."

"I know."

"I don't understand why. I had just had an argument with her on the medical program. She kept telling me how great it was and I kept trying to tell her I wanted no part of it. Finally she acts like she can't catch her breath and excuses herself. I thought she was having a heart attack! That's why I checked on her, and I saw ... wait ... what do you mean you know?"

"That's what the Darkness uses to control people, Diane. Sex."

"Sex?? Why?"

"I can only guess. It's a pretty powerful human drive."

"So you're saying that the others ... the ones you said have been enslaved ... they're sex slaves?!"

"That's about the size of it, yeah."

"Jason, I want to help! I want to help you and the others fight this! Please, tell me what you want me to do!"

Jason almost told her that there were no others, but that was not true. There was Cassie. There were possibly Ned and Becky, if he could convince them of his story. If he could get them to see the Darkness as he did.

Diane couldn't see the auras. But she had one advantage over the others. He knew that Diane at least believed him.

"Unfortunately, not a whole lot this weekend. There's no one else that can be stopped and I'm grounded. So we'll have to wait until Monday."

"How do I contact you?"

"Meet me in the parking lot at school before classes," Jason said. "Then you, me, and Cassie will figure out what to do next."

"Okay, Jason, I'll do that. Thank you. I feel a little better knowing I'm going to be doing something to help. I'll see you Monday. Bye."

"Bye."

Jason slowly put the receiver down, his eyes cloudy. Now all he had to do was come up with exactly how she could help. Or what any of them could do for that matter. There had to be some way of breaking Nyssa's control over Heather. Or Heather's control over Melinda. Either might accomplish the same ends.

For the moment, nothing was more important to him than getting Melinda back.

Nyssa was once again pleased.

Neither Heather nor Richie had escaped her. Both were her pets now. Both were useless as Sensitives now. Nyssa had control of Heather, and Heather had control of Melinda. Thus Nyssa could command Melinda through Heather if needed.

But most of all, Haven was pleased again. Nyssa let the energies from herself flow freely into it again. She was still feeling the loss of the two, but she wanted to gain Haven's good graces again.

She knew she was taking a chance. She could not lose too many more. Perhaps one she could tolerate, but more than that would put her into trouble. She would be forced to curtail the energy to Haven again. The sexual energy generated from her pets was generous, but maintaining her control over her slaves until they were permanently altered took a chunk of that energy. Whatever was left she had to pass on to Haven.

Haven was gaining in intelligence and power. It now could sense her own thoughts and feelings in a rudimentary fashion. It would make keeping anything from it increasingly difficult in the weeks to come.

And it had already warned her about holding back energy from it again. It was obvious this would make it quite angry with her.

It was a moot point now anyway. She was free and clear. Now the only one remaining that could sense the Darkness was Jason. And with all three of his close friends under her control, there was little he could do. Soon Nyssa would take him as her own slave, and it would end there. There could not possibly be any more Sensitives that that.

It stood to reason in her mind: The only way that someone gains Sensitivity is by birth. She knew of no other means.

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