For once, when Cassie stands at the edge of the pit, it is because she has willed herself here. The Presence hovers at the edge of her senses, exhibiting a faint wisp of curiosity. "I promised I would do this if you let me choose," says Cassie as she peers into the swirling vortex.

She pauses for its reaction, and it is as the night before. She senses it in the pit, as if still feeling the need to entice her. "I wish you would talk to me," Cassie says in a forlorn voice. "I wish I knew why you want me to do this so much."

She finally receives an answer of a sort. The thin stream of emotion from the Presence is like finely-woven, gossamer-thin threads. She sees a particular thread wind its way past the others, one which gives her a sense of urgency.

Cassie peers downward, and the shapes swirl as if in welcome. "So it is important to you that I do this. I wish you could tell me why and not make me guess."

She considers warning it not to force her to go where it wants but realizes it is a useless gesture. She has no idea where she wants to go herself; she simply wishes to exercise her power and please this Presence so it will continue to leave her nocturnal pursuits to her choice.

Cassie takes a deep breath and steps off the edge. She closes her eyes and steels herself against the cavalcade of emotion. She does not dare open them until she is through. She is sure the shapes are faces of the long -- perhaps ancient -- departed.

The most recent memory she had recovered from her parents plays in her head. As if in response to her thoughts, the emotional weave changes, and she senses satisfaction, but for what? Before she can inquire of it, she is through and floating free in the ether.

Cassie opens her eyes and lets out a contented sigh. She smiles when nothing prods her forward. She feels in control, subject only to the gentle currents of blue-white energy flowing in serene waves, breaking around her like the waters of a placid stream.

She wills herself forward, and this time she sails through the discolored ring. The presence becomes only a vague sensation behind her, receding fast. She wonders where she should go tonight. She wants to know just how corporeal she is perceived to be. Is she truly as solid as she feels, or is her ethereal nature simply masked by the darkness of night?

She pauses as she senses she is below the Haven Mall. She gazes upwards and perceives a vision of a large parking lot near the southwest corner of the mall along Old Main Street. Despite the lateness of the hour, it blazes with mercury-vapor light, and car headlight beams sweep over the lot as they turn from Lincoln Avenue. She discerns a young woman strolling along the street.

Cassie wonders if she should do this. If she does indeed have more the appearance of a ghost, she does not want to frighten someone. Yet she remembers the time she was brought along with Stephanie when she Protected, and she had appeared solid and real enough in the bright headlights to cause the driver to nearly tip over his rig trying to avoid her.

She closes her eyes and decides on her appearance. She does not want to look too fancy. She tries to imagine herself wearing something simple, like jeans and a pullover shirt, but where she has never worn such things in her life, she cannot sufficiently envision them to make them manifest. She instead imagines herself dressed for school.

Cassie suddenly feels the cold night air against her face, and she opens her eyes, squinting as she stands in a circle of cool white light. Her gaze sweeps around her and towards the street, where she spots the young woman.

She is taken aback by the woman's appearance. The woman is younger than Cassie had guessed, likely no older than twenty. Her attire seems inappropriate for a cold winter night. A tight spandex top hugs a modest, pushed-up bosom, baring a flat midriff above very abbreviated leather shorts. Her legs are clad in black fishnets, feet squeezed into five-inch heels. The only concession to the season was a light fur stole draped loosely around her shoulders, and even then it appears more for show than warmth.

The woman turns away and steps off the sidewalk, and Cassie's eyes widen at the exposed crescent moons of her ass around the edges of the shorts. She approaches a car stopped at the light, swaying her hips and clicking her heels against the pavement.

Cassie approaches the street. The woman waves at the driver, who lowers his window slightly. The woman adopts a provocative stance, tilting her hips and placing her hand on one. She leans forward, curving her back and thrusting her bosom towards him. After a brief conversation, the window closes and the young woman turns away. The car drives away when the light changes, and the woman looks down the street.

The shock hits Cassie as she steps onto the street. A prostitute? Here in Haven?

The woman heads back towards the street, her gaze still lingering after the departed car. For a moment she occults a distant street lamp, and Cassie sees no Aura, yet the woman's emotions bear the unmistakable taint of past Dark influence.

The woman turns her gaze towards Cassie and comes to a stop just off the curb, flinching in surprise but not fear. The woman's bright, painted lips curl into a smirk, and she tosses her head back. She brushes a few errant strands of blonde hair out of her eyes, which sweep Cassie from head to toe and back again. "Well, ain't you the cute little princess."

Cassie sighs. Do even her most mundane clothes project privilege? "Um, good evening," she says in a hesitant voice.

The woman folds her arms and tilts her hips. "Listen, you better not be workin' this corner. I got here first."

Cassie's eyes widen. "Oh, no, nothing like that! I would never ... um ..."

The woman smirks. "Yeah, go on, make all your silly little assumptions about me. Don't even consider that maybe I like this gig."

Cassie senses nothing but sincerity, yet the taint is still there. Could the Darkness have permanently affected this woman? Or is her Aura somehow being hidden? For once, she wishes she had Debby's ability to see psychic auras.

"So you really like, um, doing this?" Cassie asks.

The woman snorts. "What, you takin' some kinda survey or something? You look too young to be much outta high school."

"No, I was just taking a walk."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Listen, sweet-tits, no one dolled up like that at this hour is just out for a walk." Her eyes sweep Cassie again. "And the little schoolgirl look is really in right now for some stupid perverted reason."

Cassie wonders if she had indeed been guided in her Projection. Could this be a way of telling her just how prevalent the influence of the Darkness was in Haven? It is not like the Harbingers needed any more reasons to defeat it. "Do you really like doing this sort of thing?" Cassie asks in as neutral a voice as she can muster.

The woman rolls her eyes. "Okay, fine, I'll play along. Yeah, miss wannabe slice-o'-life reporter gal, I like fucking for money. It pays the rent and then some. And not just a cheap apartment, either. I got me a decent place near Mesa View." She smirks. "Lots of rich folk just down the road are real generous tippers."

Cassie sees a car approach along Old Main. Instead of queuing up at the light, it pulls to the curb and stops. "When did you start doing this?" Cassie asks.

"Three years ago, soon as it was legal to do so. Well, legal in terms of age of consent that is."

"And what were you doing before that?"

"Wow, you're pushin' this to the limit, ain't ya? Fine, I was going to school at Haven High. Worked the Inn on weekends."

Cassie's eyes widen. "Wait, the Li'l Missy Inn?"

"No, the Donald Trump Megahotel. How many fucking Inns do you think this dump has, dumbass? Look, I don't have time to--"

A tap of a car horn interrupts her and startles Cassie. She looks past the woman and sees the driver side window is down.

The young woman smirks. "Sorry, sweet-tits, got a customer. You wanna peddle yourself to the schoolgirl fetish pervs, you do it on some other street."

Cassie stares in no small measure of amazement and shock as the woman struts away, heels clicking on the concrete. The woman thrusts out her ass and bends down to lean against the edge of the door. She crosses her ankles and tilts her hips, and Cassie can discern nothing from their low murmur of clandestine conversation.

Cassie is ready to return to the line, the tension rising on her astral tether. She has an answer to one question, which is how tangible she appears to others. What she still does not know is if it extends to physical contact. For all she knew, the woman could have passed her hand right through Cassie.

She starts towards a darker area so she can disappear without being seen, when the young woman suddenly calls out, "Hey, sweet-tits, wait!"

Cassie stops as the young woman approaches her. "Alright, listen up. This guy wants a threesome and he's willing to pay real generous for it."

Cassie's heart thumps. "But I'm not--"

"Save it. I'm not buyin' it. Now listen and listen good. If we do this, I get eighty percent. Period, end of story."

"I don't--"

"But he wants to see the goods first, so come on."

The woman seizes Cassie's arm, and she is forced to jog alongside the woman to keep up. She now has her answer to her second question, but it only sparks more. How is she managing this? Has she really taken a true physical form? Is this indeed more like teleportation than Projection? Yet Stephanie Projected her teenage self when her physical body was in its thirties.

She is guided to the side of the car. She peers inside, steeling herself for her preconceived notion of a horrible lecher eying her with cold, dispassionate lust. She is taken aback to see a pleasant, middle-aged man giving her a gentle smile.

"So whaddaya think of her?" the woman asks.

Cassie's heart pounds as the man raises a hand, letting out a quavering sigh when he lays it gently against her cheek. "She looks so sweet and innocent," the man says in a soft voice. His hand alights on her shoulder and slides down her arm and side. Cassie's skin flushes and tingles. "And so pretty."

"Don't be so shy," the young woman purrs at the man. "You weren't with me."

The man pauses, and doubt flickers across his face for a moment. Finally he raises his hand to Cassie's bosom and gives one of Cassie's breasts a tentative squeeze.

Cassie swallows, feeling both the urge to bolt and to lean into his touch. She is suddenly conscious of the tightening astral tether. For a moment, she is shocked at how sexualized she has become, reacting with a flush of pleasure and a wetness in her folds at a stranger's touch.

"Oh, that is nice," the man says in a husky voice as he fondles the other one. "So nicely shaped."

"You got a place?" the woman asks. "Cost you extra if you don't."

"Yes, I live alone. I can--"

Cassie backs away. "I-I'm sorry, I can't do this. I ... I have to go."

"Now wait a fucking minute!" the woman cries as Cassie flees towards the intersection. Her hopes of walking unnoticed into a dark area are dashed; she can only hope no one is around the corner.

"You're doing this just to screw with me!" the young woman shouts. "You little bitch!"

Cassie barely rounds the corner when she feels an ethereal yank. She is rushing backwards through the line, the energy around her roaring like rushing wind and water. She rises through the mesa, her mind pummeled with feelings of amazement, satisfaction, amusement, caution, admonishment, worry, and fear. She is both praised and scolded, revered and reviled. She has little time to sort out these emotions before she slams back into her body.

Cassie bolted upright in bed, her heart still pounding, her pussy still damp. The Presence remained somewhere in the distance, and her gaze darted around the room as if expecting to see him standing there. She jumped out of bed and peered into the bathroom as her younger self had done several visions ago.

She sighed and sat inside the bay window, looking over the twinkling lights of Haven. She wished she could dismiss it as a dream like normal people could. Had she really only moments before stood with a prostitute at the mall, letting a stranger fondle her breasts?

Cassie lay a hand on her bosom and uttered a slow sigh. The nipples were still stiff, the heat in her pussy slow to recede. She resisted the temptation to masturbate her lingering arousal away.

She shivered as her hand fell away from her bosom. Projection had become yet another ability which frightened her with its power. For all intents and purposes, she was in two places at once. She could be here, safe and sound in her own bed, and at the same time in some distant location flirting with danger and ...

Cassie's eyes widened as the realization struck her. "That's it, isn't it?" she said in a hushed but excited voice. "That's how I'm supposed to do it. That's how I'm supposed to rescue Jason!"

Audrey could not remember the last time she had the privilege of luxuriating in bed well after the sun had risen. Even after first her husband and then her son ceased to sit down to a decent breakfast weekday mornings, she always felt the urge to do something, as if her life would remain unfulfilled otherwise.

She rolled onto her back and uttered a contented sigh as she turned her head towards where Henry slept. She had awakened to an empty bed, something which she had become used to over the past ten years. That was about as long as she had tolerated the lack of sex.

Her lips curled into a smile as her legs shifted under the sheets, and her hand slid towards her parted thighs. She closed her eyes as fingers sank into damp folds. She heard the shower run in the other bathroom and shivered with anticipation. Her fingers slid inside her pussy, working it with gentle, slow thrusts, the exact kind she fantasized Jason would give her.

Audrey shuddered, and her nose wrinkled. Something was still so very wrong about lusting after her own son. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many times she fucked herself with a dildo wishing it were Jason's cock, she could not overcome that last bit of revulsion over the idea.

In a way, that made it all the more exciting.

She so wanted to be a good mother to him. Why else would she have braved a move she had never wanted and the lack of sex which she had convinced herself she had never needed?

Audrey pushed her fingers into herself as far as they would go, arching her back and moaning softly. She realized she had been lying to herself all that time. She needed the sex, but Henry would not be the one to provide it. He had his chance.

Some years ago, she had suspected Henry was having an affair -- perhaps with one of those pretty young nurses at the hospital -- yet she could never find any evidence. After awhile she had given up looking, convincing herself that sex was simply a part of her life that had passed her by.

Audrey reluctantly pulled her hand from her panties and slid out of bed. She stretched and stepped towards the closet as she unbuttoned her nightgown. She glanced at the mirror on the door, then paused with her hand halfway to the hanger holding her house clothes.

Audrey withdrew her hand and turned towards the mirror. She shed her nightgown and let it fall to the floor, staring at herself as if enthralled. She watched her naked breasts swell as she drew in breath. She glanced towards the sound of rushing water, her nipples growing hard and erect. Her next breath emerged as an excited sigh as she shimmied out of her panties, revealing her glistening, bare labia.

Audrey again glanced towards the sound of rushing water. Jason was almost done with his shower. She slid a hand down her side, the other combing her fingers through her hair. She tilted her hips and let out a husky sigh, shivering at the thought of herself and Jason nude in each other's presence.

"What's come over me?" she suddenly asked herself in a husky but confused voice. "I was never like this, was I?"

Some mornings, her questions were met with reassuring answers. This time she was greeted with nothing but silence. The inner voice which had so wonderfully guided her over the past two weeks had become prone to odd lapses of silence in recent days. She was left to struggle for the answers on her own.

The feeling nagged at her that she was somehow on the wrong track. Her goal, as always, was admirable: to be the best mother she could be, yet it seemed always just out of reach. His cock was no nearer to being inside her pussy than it had been at Thanksgiving.

She shuddered again and shook her head. That was when those odd feelings reared up from the depths of her mind, threatening to steer her away from the path. She had assumed the guiding voice was some long-dormant aspect of her own personality finally asserting itself.

She had tried to follow the last bit of advice it had given her: let Jason feel more in control, even if it meant quelling her desire for him in the short term. She had been assured that once he felt more at ease, he would want to show her how much of a good mother he truly believed she was.

Audrey uttered a tiny gasp as the shower quit.

Her heart pounded. Jason would emerge from his bathroom in all his naked, manly glory. She wondered if he woke up with a hard-on like Henry would sometimes. Was it too much to expect that it would have lingered this long, that she would get a chance to see his cock so nice and stiff?

Audrey's body flushed hot. She squeezed her thighs together and felt moisture ooze in her slit. Her nipples tingled, and she resisted the urge to rub them. She would rather Jason did that.

She turned away from the closet and headed towards the door. Surely Jason would not turn her down now. All he needed was a little coaxing. He was never one to show his feelings openly around his parents. Maybe he was even afraid of rejection, that Audrey had been only teasing him.

She opened the door and paused at the threshold. She heard Jason moving around in his bathroom. She could wait for him in his bedroom. Perhaps she should lay in his bed, even masturbate for him, just to let him see how ...

Audrey had an idea and returned to the closet. She reached inside and pulled out a pink satin robe. She stared at it, her hand stroking the fabric. She had bought it four years ago in a vain attempt to rekindle her husband's sexual interest. It was perfect: both a symbol of her husband's failure and a means to assuage some of her lingering doubts.

She slipped into the robe as she headed into the hall. She shivered at how sensual the fabric felt against her bare skin, the bottom edge swishing about her thighs. She sashed it at her waist, just tight enough to make her nipples poke against the fabric.

Audrey paused with her hand on the door to Jason's room, took a deep breath, then let herself inside.

No sooner than she had crossed the threshold when Jason emerged from the bathroom. Her breath caught in her throat as he froze, allowing her gaze to roam over his perfect, youthful form. She let out a slow, husky sigh as she stared at his cock, swollen in partial tumescence.

"Mom, what ... what are you ...?" Jason stammered, his voice trailing off. His wide and shimmering eyes stared at her for another moment before he rushed to the dresser.

Audrey's skin flushed when she witnessed his cock swelling further before he could cover it with his briefs. Even then, the bulge gave clear evidence of her son's endowment.

"I really wish you would knock sometimes, Mom," Jason said as he raced to the closet.

"I'm sorry, Jason, I wanted to see you before you left for school," Audrey said, her lips curling into a slow smile.

Jason glanced over his shoulder as he yanked a pair of jeans from a hanger. His gaze flitted over her body, lingering for a moment on her legs, then her breasts. "I think maybe you've seen a little too much," he muttered.

Audrey shook her head. "Please, you have no reason to be ashamed. You're ... you're a very handsome boy."

Jason pulled his jeans up and paused, letting out a quavering sigh. He turned around after securing the belt and zipper. "Mom, why are you wearing that?" he asked in a voice both bewildered and curious.

Audrey smiled. "Would you prefer I didn't?"

"Please, keep it on," Jason said in a small voice.

"I don't have to. I could remove it right now."

Jason swallowed. "I ... no ... no, don't." He plucked a shirt from the closet and put it on, racing across the room to his backpack. "I have to get ready for school, anyway, or I'll be late for the bus."

Audrey uttered a tremulous sigh and slid her hands down her hips. Her pussy had never ached this bad. Her eyes made furtive glances at his crotch, his erection still very much obvious. She so wished he would make the decision for her! She saw how his eyes could not leave her for more than a few seconds at a time. If she let the robe slide to the floor, he would never be able to resist.

Yet she could not do it. Something stopped her from taking the final step. He had to do it for her. "I just want you more and more, Jason," Audrey said. "You're going to have to do something if you want me to stop."

Jason cast a troubled look at her, yet she could see the desire in his eyes, and his cock remained quite erect. He had as much trouble hiding it as Henry had back in the early days of their marriage.

Audrey took a step closer. "You need to be more in control, don't you, Jason? They're teaching you that at the Inn. You can control me, stop me from doing what you don't want me to do."

Doubt and confusion clouded Jason's eyes. He drew in a deep breath and let it go with the words, "I'm already facing some tough choices like this concerning someone else. This is just complicating things right now, Mom."

"But it's not complicated at all. You could decide exactly what I should do. So if you don't want me to ever be naked, or see your sexy, naked body, you can do that." She paused. "Then ... later ... if you change your mind ..."

"No, I ... If I did that and then let you go, you'd ..." Jason trailed off.

"Yes?" Audrey asked.

Jason shook his head. "Nothing, just something I was ... it was nothing." He picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, but paused to look at her again as he headed towards the door.

Audrey touched his arm as he passed. He stopped and turned towards her, and now she could hear his soft panting. She smiled. "You're excited."

"I shouldn't be," Jason said in a flat voice.

Audrey traced her fingertips down Jason's arm. "I thought that, too, once. But I can't just shut off my feelings." She lifted her gaze to his. "But I suppose you could do that if you had control over me."

Jason bit his lower lip before he fled. Audrey leaned on the door frame, uttering a despondent sigh as she heard the front door open and close.

Do not despair.

Audrey uttered a quavering sigh as her pussy swam in moist lust. She was so glad to hear the voice again that her pussy felt as if it had been lightly stroked.

You did only as you could. You have been wonderfully patient.

Audrey closed her eyes and moaned as her pleasure rose. She swayed her hips as she humped Jason's cock in her mind's eye.

He will come around quite soon. Hold out a little longer.

"I'll try," Audrey said in a soft voice. "I'm sorry ... I thought I was ready for this ... I ... at the last moment before I ..."

No need to be upset. You're a good mother, just remember that. And soon you will be rewarded for your years of effort.

Audrey smiled and knew at once that things would soon be better. Jason would put his cock in his mother's pussy, and all will be right with the world again.

Penny entered her bedroom carrying her mug of coffee, her second one of the morning. She contemplated a third as she took a long sip before setting it on a corner of the dresser. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, still bleary from a fitful night of broken sleep.

She wished she could stop thinking about the pendant. Heather had to have taken it, and she could guess as to why. She knew exactly what Richie could do with it in the right places.

Penny was not concerned about the Darkness. It already knew someone had taken the pendant and did not care. It saw no issue with her children learning the truth, and thus did not press her to find where the pendant had gone. If anything, it grew annoyed with her obsession over it.

Penny slipped off her robe and hung it on a hook on the inside of the closet door as footsteps approached from the hall. She turned, unashamed in her nudity, to greet Jo when she appeared at the door.

"So is the little slut off to school?" Jo asked in a sly voice.

"Melinda is off to school, yes," Penny said in a stiff voice. "You could at least use her proper name around me."

"I could, if I wanted to. I choose not to. Problem?"

Penny glared at her sister, though she imagined some of the impact was lost when Jo glanced at her glistening pussy. She headed towards the dresser. "I could just refuse you entry into this house any longer," she said in a tight voice as she snatched underwear from the dresser.

"You couldn't do that."

Penny whirled around. "And why not? I've heard nothing in protest about it."

"The little ... oh, pardon me ... Melinda is so dependent on me by now that she's already my slave in everything but name. Cut me off, and she'll just pine for me."

Penny remained silent until she put on her bra. "Unless I counter it. I can affect her in the same way with that trigger." She yanked the straps and adjusted the cups, her breasts bouncing once.

Jo's eyes slid down to the panties as they were pulled up Penny's legs. "Don't know why you're bothering with that, they'll just make you strip everything off and spread your legs for your next john."

"Stop changing the subject."

"I do so because this one bores me," said Jo. "You cannot possibly manipulate that trigger with anywhere near the finesse that I can. Oh, yes, I'm sure you can apply whatever scraps of power your keeper tosses you like leftovers for the dogs, but, really, it's like using a sledgehammer for brain surgery."

When they were kids, Penny had despised Jo's penchant for flowery rejoinders which made her own sound dumb or lame. Later, she had thought it translated well to their business partnership, which itself she had seen as a way to patch their many differences. Instead, it proved only how much of a fool Penny had been to trust Jo, and made her rejoinders all the most loathsome in the present day.

"You realize what you're making fun of, don't you?" Penny asked.

She was treated to a brief pause, but it was always shorter than the last, as if Jo had realized the empty nature of the threat. "I have yet to hear of it becoming angry for mere implied insults," Jo said with a greater confidence than she usually exhibited. "So you can cease throwing it at me like a child's boogyman."

Penny turned towards her closet. "Is there a point to this conversation, Jo?"

"Indeed there is. I will be taking Melinda this coming Monday. She'll live with me from that point on."

Penny whirled around, dress still on the hanger she held in her hand. "No."

"Notice, Penny, that I did not ask you. I am telling you what will happen, and you will not stop me."

Penny marched up to her sister, yet the movement of her thighs sent her pussy into low paroxysms of aching need. She shuddered as imagery flickered across her mind of Melinda trotting around her sister's house nude, her pussy ever wet and ready for her Mistress' strap-on dildo.

Jo smirked and leaned against the door frame, folding her arms. "Not that you really want to stop me, do you? You're getting horny just thinking about it."

"What I feel in that area is none of your concern," Penny declared, her arousal taking the commanding edge off her voice. She let out a quavering sigh and shuddered. "If anyone will have Melinda as a sex toy, it will be m-me. And it's up to my Mistress as to--"

"But that's just it, my dear," Jo said with a sly smile. "It is indeed what your so-called Mistress wants."

Penny blinked. "I don't--"

"Of course you don't understand, because you're so limited in your knowledge of the deal you made."

"And you know it better? You weren't even there!"

Jo's smile widened. "I helped orchestrate it, or have you not figured that out by now?"

"Yes, I know what you did. You manipulated me into having to make that deal in the first place. You made it so it was the only way I could protect my daughters!"

Penny wanted to smack Jo across the face when she started to shake her head halfway between Penny's reply. Penny was more confused than ever. Why was the Darkness allowing her to feel her real emotions?

"Penny, you always had a limited vocabulary," Jo said. "Please think on the word 'orchestrated' for a moment and you'll come to understand exactly what I am talking about. Here's a hint for you: have you ever known it to make such deals with anyone else? Or does it prefer everything exactly as it wants?"

Penny's mind raced with memories she had hoped never would be dredged up. "I am not privy to everything it does," she said in a low voice. "But I don't know of any other such deals, save perhaps for whatever relationship it once had with Victor."

"And that was a very special case: two powers who would have otherwise collided head-on. Well, I suppose they did in the end, but that's beside the point."

Penny sighed in exasperation and pulled the dress from the hanger. She threw the hanger back on the pole, where it spun and fell to the bottom of the closet as she slammed it closed. "Jo, I don't have time for this," she said as she headed towards the bed, though her voice quavered with the growing and horrible realization. She needed a few more moments of denial if she wanted to get dressed in time to head to the Inn. "Just make your point and leave."

"Very well. You made that deal with the Darkness because it was the exact deal it wished you to make."

Penny's heart pounded. "You're not making any sense. Why would it go through all that trouble? Why would it even bother working through you?"

"Oh, I make no claim to being the mastermind behind this. I took my orders from Victor at the time, but I am quite sure he was working with it."

"No, Jo, you and Victor tried to manipulate me into joining the cult," Penny snapped, intent on preserving her version of reality a little longer. "When I made it clear I had no intention of doing so, you all feared I would bring it down instead. But I had bigger fish to fry and ... and I bit off more than I could chew."

Jo gave her sister an amused smile.

Penny donned her dress and marched up to her sister. "Stop it. Stop looking so smug about it. You could have left me alone and let me deal with ... with the real threat." Penny paused, momentarily shocked by her own words. "Instead, I-I was attacked from all sides. My daughters were in danger. I had nowhere else to turn. Giving myself to it was the only way to have some choice over what happened to Heather and Melinda. Otherwise, it could simply have taken them whenever it wanted. I was the real threat that it wanted neutralized. I let it do that in exchange for my daughters' safety."

The words rang hollow. She wondered if all this time her logic had been supported only by the suppression of her memories and the perpetual high tide of lustful obedience with which it had flooded her mind.

"If you wish to continue believing that, then that is your business," said Jo as she turned away. "What I said stands. It let you make that deal because it was what it wanted. And my other words still stand as well: I will be taking Melinda come Monday." She paused and glanced back at her now fuming sister. "Oh, did I mention that Kelly is staying at my house now? I'm sure we'll both have a lot of fun with Melinda."

Penny would have screamed at her retreating sister if a surge of hot, wet arousal and rising pleasure had not sent her sinking to her knees as Jo headed down the stairs.

You really should not be so rude to your sister, my pet.

Penny shuddered and moaned, her pussy swimming in molten lust. "Did what ...? Is it true you ...?" She closed her eyes, the words unable to make it to her lips. She had no business questioning her Mistress. What difference did the circumstances of the deal make? The deal got her what she wanted, yet it seemed to be falling apart more with each passing day.

Jo suffers from the same problem all of Victor's ridiculous cult members do: she runs off at the mouth far too often and imagines herself above reproof from me.

Penny let out a husky sigh, her knees spreading as her hips swayed. Sensual delight rose into her mind and soothed her tortured emotions. Her tensed shoulders slumped, her thighs quivering with rising need. "Then she was lying," she said in a weak voice, but she already knew the truth just from the way the Darkness touched her mind.

She was truthful. You did a deal I wanted you to make.

"But--?"

You must be patient a little longer, my pet, the Darkness said in soft tones. Penny shivered, its touch like slow and teasing fingers stroking her pussy. I promise I will reveal everything to you.

"Melinda ... why ... I don't want ..." Penny gasped, then moaned again as imagery flooded her helpless mind again of both daughters naked and wet, eyes filled with blissful obedience, legs spreading in ever-present sexual need. Her pussy strained at the edge of a climax she silently begged would be consummated. Instead, she was left to fall back slowly, leaving her pussy as wanting as her curiosity.

Patience. Now, you have a job to get to. You know Stacy doesn't like it when you're late.

Penny took a deep breath and let it go as a rattling sigh. She slowly stood and ran a shaking hand through her hair, waiting until the pleasure in her sex had retreated enough so she could think straight.

She had to trust everything would be all right. The decision to submit herself to the Darkness was the right one. Melinda and Heather would be all right in the end. Heather will eventually be released from Laura Bendon's control and Jo will not get Melinda. Surely the Darkness could read her thoughts and correct them if they were not to its liking.

She headed to the dresser to fetch her pendant when she remembered. She sighed and left instead.

Ned gave Cassie a skeptical look as they reached the intersection and turned towards each other. Down the street, the limo idled in front of Ned's house. "Ya sure that's gonna work, babe?"

"Ned, it's the only thing that makes sense," Cassie said in an excited voice. "I'm not going to have any other opportunity to free him from the Darkness. It has to happen at the Inn."

"How ya figger that?"

"I can't do it at school, I'd be too afraid of involving innocent people. I can't do it at his house, since his mother is there and is influenced by the Darkness as well. I can't catch him in between because Harry will always be there. The Inn is the only place I can do it."

Ned sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, yer right 'bout that. Shit, talk 'bout yer elephant in the room. That was a whole herd of 'em."

Cassie sighed. "As much as my Projection ability can scare me, the idea of actually walking into the Inn scares me even more."

"Yeah, well, it don't 'xactly sit high on my list of things I'd like ta see ya doin', either." Ned had not wanted to admit how worried he really was at the prospect of Cassie going toe-to-toe with the Darkness. He still had his doubts of the efficacy of Elizabeth's potion; too many things could go wrong.

"This feels like it might be safer. If I'm not really there, I can pop back into the line once I've done what I need to do."

"If that stuff will work when yer Projectin'," Ned said. "Or if the Poobah of Evil is fooled enough by it."

"Yes, I know, I need to ask Mrs. Radson if she thinks it will work, but I fear she may not know either. And I'm not sure if it matters whether the Darkness knows if I'm Projected or not." She paused and had trouble meeting his eyes when she spoke again in a subdued voice. "All I know is that it felt real enough to me when that man touched me."

Ned wrapped an arm around her. "Babe, don't sweat it," he said in a soft voice.

Cassie leaned her head against his shoulder. "I feel like I cheated on you, like it's okay when it's a fellow Harbinger, but--"

"Ya just did what ya had to do. Ya had ta make sure. Listen, the more I think 'bout this idea, the more I like it. Would love ta see the look on its face -- well, if it had one -- when ya just up and disappear after freeing Jason."

Cassie gave him a faint and fleeting smile. "This still frightens me, Ned."

"I know. Ta be blunt, it should. But anything that'll give ya an edge is worth it."

Cassie clung to him and whispered, "I really hope we can use Mrs. Radson's guest room at least one more time. I-I need the contact with you."

Ned drew her into a tight hug. He had managed to keep his anxiety in check when Cassie went up against Victor's avatar in Gina's head on Halloween. Perhaps he had considered it "safer" than being in Victor's presence. Only when Cassie had explained to him later what had transpired had he become scared for her.

He wished he had not gained that knowledge, for then he could stop his heart from pounding every time he thought about the danger in which Cassie would be placing herself.

Jason stared out the window of the school bus, thinking long and hard on his confrontation with his mother. He shifted in his seat when the memory of his mother in that sexy robe made his cock swell. He sighed as he realized he now had two huge decisions to make.

He had taken the "job" with the Inn to avoid inducing trauma upon his mother, but he wondered if the damage had already been done. If the Darkness were to remove its influence, would she not be very upset over how she had seduced her own son?

He remembered how he had to take complete control of Cindy to ensure she would remain happy. Did he need to do the same with his mother? Then he could put her back into her proper role and no longer worry about having sex with her.

Then again, if he did have complete control, she would be content no matter what happened to her.

Jason turned away from the window as the bus pulled to the curb. Not a word was exchanged as a sullen Richie climbed on board. Richie paused and glared at Jason before falling into his seat.

"You could at least be civilized and say 'hi,'" Jason said.

"Yeah, hi," Richie grunted. "Whatever."

"Surly to bed, surly to rise, hmm?"

"Get off my fucking back. And if you so much as look at Melinda wrong today--"

"Now you get off my back," Jason snapped. "I have not touched Melinda or said one word out of line to her."

"So what do you call what you said to her yesterday?"

"It's called answering questions. It's a means of imparting knowledge." Jason winced as Richie's fist landed on his arm. "So what the hell was that for?"

"That was for being a wiseass. Plus I'm not in the fucking mood this morning."

Before Jason could retort, the bus had stopped again. Melinda dashed up the stairs, her skirt flying about the tops of her stockings, flashing a glimpse of her garters. She paused at the top, glancing at the rest of the bus. Her cheeks glowed red as several boys craned their necks and cast eager and lascivious looks at her.

She took a step forward, her gaze landing on Jason, and she hesitated again. Jason smiled, holding his eyes level with hers so Richie would not have another excuse to punch him again.

Melinda swallowed, glancing briefly at the seat Heather usually occupied before falling into her normal one. Jason noticed she had scooted away from him to the left side of the seat.

Complete silence fell. Jason glanced at Melinda and already felt Richie tense. "Your Aunt Jo still giving you trouble?"

Melinda sighed and nodded. She glanced towards the rest of the bus, then pulled her skirt up and spread her legs for a moment, giving someone a peek at her damp pussy. Her blush deepened as she closed her trembling legs.

"Why the fuck do you want to know?" Richie demanded.

Jason gave him a bored look. "This is getting old."

"Hey, I'm just doing what you told me to do before you fell in with those assholes at the Inn."

"Well, you're overdoing it. It's likely apocryphal, but even Freud supposedly said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Richie frowned and thumped his fist against Jason's arm.

Jason rolled his eyes. "And that was for ...?"

"Using words I don't understand. What's apock-a-full? mean"

"Really, Richie, get a life. And a dictionary, for that matter."

"Will you two stop it?!" Melinda hissed. "Can't we just talk about something else?"

"Yes, I would love to," Jason said. He glanced at Richie. "If my censor here doesn't mind."

"Hey, say whatever you want," Richie said. "So long as Mr. Fist is okay with it, nothing will happen."

"Is it safe to ask, then, how the other Harbingers are doing? I only ask because I hardly have contact with them anymore."

Richie furrowed his brow in thought, but Melinda piped up before he could answer. "Heather is back at Ms. Bendon's place for another week," she said in a miserable voice.

Jason nodded. "Yeah, I figured. How is she holding up?"

"I've seen her better. She ... she keeps getting close to cumming but never gets there. She said she's being punished."

"I was wondering about that when I saw her in the hallway." He snapped his head towards Richie and caught him winding back his fist. "From a distance. I didn't go near her."

"Richie, do what Ned keeps telling you to do and chill out," Melinda snapped.

"Thank you," Jason said with an exasperated sigh as Richie lowered his fist. "So what about the others? You don't have to tell me what the Harbingers have been doing if you're really worried about that."

"You were the one worried about--" Richie began.

"Cassie's doing okay," Melinda said, raising her voice.

"Handing the job of leading the Harbingers okay?"

Melinda nodded. "Ned's the same. Diane's doing fine."

"So how is Diane doing with those lessons of hers with--" Jason heaved to one side at a sudden and sharp impact to his arm. He turned to Richie and gave him a cold look. "You've crossed the line from old to annoying, Richie."

"Why the hell do you want to know anything about Diane?" Richie demanded.

"Same reason I'm asking about the others."

"Bullshit." He launched his fist forward again, but Jason twisted in his seat and avoided it.

"Richie, stop it!" Melinda cried.

"Pipe down back there!" the elderly driver of the bus rasped. "Don't make me stop this thing and come back there!"

"Look, cool it, will you?" Jason hissed at Richie. "If you don't want me to learn something, just don't answer me or tell someone else not to answer. Punching me for someone else's response makes no sense."

"Richie, just because of what Aunt Jo is doing to me doesn't mean I'm stupid," Melinda said.

Richie slowly unclenched his fist. He folded his arms and slouched in his seat. "Fine, whatever."

Melinda looked at Jason. "Anyway, it's not like I even know anything about that. I can't go to the meetings anymore because I have to be a slutty little girl for my aunt." She tugged her skirt again but managed to stop herself from revealing more than her garters.

Jason could have resisted, but he chose not to. He dropped his gaze to her lap and held it there until Melinda noticed. She shuddered and spread her legs, pulling her skirt back up until he could see her pussy. His cock swelled as he thought of it sinking into that nice, tight cunt.

He looked at her eyes and saw sincere lust, not the manufactured one she displayed for others. He wondered if he could use his newly found powers to help Melinda somehow. Perhaps he could wrest control of her away from her Aunt Jo and her mother, but that would require taking control of Melinda.

Would that be a justified use of his power? Would he be in the right? Certainly he would treat her a lot better than Aunt Jo ever would, yet did that place him on a high enough moral ground?

No, he had to set this decision aside for now. He had to focus on one thing at a time. Diane was the most important one to consider. Once he took care of that, he could revisit his mother and Melinda's plight.

"It's too bad you can't go to those meetings," Jason said. "Maybe Mrs. Radson could help you like she's helping Diane."

"It's not the same thing, though. Mrs. Radson is helping Diane with her power to--"

"Don't tell him!" Richie cried.

"Fuck you, Richie, he already knows about what Diane can do!" Melinda piped.

Jason turned to Richie. "Remember the last meeting we held before I stepped down as the Harbingers' leader? It was mentioned then that Diane had discovered she could channel line energy, and that Mrs. Radson was helping her control her power. So that's pretty much public knowledge."

"You're way too fucking interested in that," Richie said, narrowing his eyes and curling his hand into a fist again.

"What, I can't be concerned for Diane's welfare? I was worried she might hurt herself or someone else if she didn't have control over her power. Maybe I'm not the leader of the Harbingers anymore, but I didn't stop caring about them."

"I don't know the answer to that, anyway," Melinda said. "I barely know what's going on."

"And I don't know jack shit either," Richie growled. "So might as well just drop it now."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Sorry I brought it up."

He hid his frustration as best he could. He needed more information about Diane's progress before he could make a decision. If she had indeed learned to control her power, then he could accept that the others would keep a close enough eye on her to prevent her power from falling into someone else's hands.

He figured two people would have the answer: Diane herself and her lover Heather.

Diane would be the best choice. Besides coming from the source, he could test how easily he could wheedle it out of her. Heather was addled enough by Laura's control that she could be manipulated into telling him whatever he wanted to know.

He felt confident he would have enough to make an informed decision by that evening.

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