Cassie feels a sense of embarrassed irony. Last time she had fought for the right to choose where to go in the dreamscape, only to now feel compelled to commit herself to exercising her Projection skills every night.

Too many questions remain unanswered. She does not know how long she will need to remain in Projected form. Her abrupt departure the night before could have been from reaching the end of her time, or she could have strayed too far from the center of the line. She is also not sure how far the illusion of physical presence would carry.

Or better put: how convincing is a sex act with a Projected image?

She again senses the strange Presence at the edge of her perception. It remains quiet but curious. As she descends through the mesa, she is enveloped in emotions of caution, danger, and admonishment, as if they already sense what Cassie is about to try.

She has no idea how she will attempt it. She has no insight into the minds of the people of Haven while she is Projecting. The thrill of floating free in the blue-white ether does little to compensate for her fear, and her heart pounds as she glides past the discolored ring.

She pauses just past the ring and stretches her empathic sense as far as it will go, and to her surprise finds the Presence still with her. He had never before progressed with her beyond the ring. Is he here to guide her? As if in answer to her question, his Presence grows stronger, until Cassie turns her head as if expecting him to materialize beside her.

She sees nothing but the gentle ebb and flow of psychic and supernatural energies, yet she feels a gentle nudge forward, as if someone has placed his hands around her waist. Cassie allows herself to be guided. She senses it as a push rather than a pull and is thus reassured it is not the Darkness luring her.

Suddenly the guiding force does tug her, and she stops. She gazes upward and sees a large house off a quiet, private road. She recognizes the area; it is the southern edge of Mesa View Estates.

Her unseen companion urges her to rise. Cassie hesitates, if only to ensure that she is still ultimately in control. She stops resisting, and seconds later she feels the chill of the evening air against her face and calves under a clear and star-scattered sky.

Cassie is about to will herself into proper clothes when she realizes why the icy air has not reached the rest of her body. She is wrapped in a fur coat, covering her from neck to knees. She takes a step and her eyes widen as she feels the soft fur directly against her skin. She is wearing only a bra and panties underneath, and her feet are clad in five-inch heeled shoes.

She looks around as if intending to demand an explanation from her companion, but she no longer senses him. She looks at the house at the end of the walk and takes a deep breath before approaching the door, her steps abbreviated as she trains herself to walk in high heels upon the thin crust of freshly fallen snow. She pauses at the door before sounding the doorbell. She hears a whir and looks up as a security camera trains on her.

The door is flung open, and a middle-aged man with a balding pate stares at her, his eyes wide. One hand clutches the edges of a bath robe, holding it closed around his pudgy frame. He pushes wire-framed glasses up his nose, and his gaze sweeps Cassie from head to toe.

"I-I thought ... I thought they'd forgotten," the man says in a voice of hushed awe. "I thought after what happened on Halloween ... did someone finally rise in his place? Are they active again now?"

Cassie has no idea how to respond. She wonders if this had been a good idea after all, and considers backing away and claiming this was a mistake. Before she can act, he seizes her hands and pulls her across the threshold.

"No matter, no matter," he says in a voice of childlike glee as he pulls her into the entry hall. "You're here. Over a month late, but a small price to pay."

Cassie gives the open door one last forlorn glance before the man rushes to close it, as if anticipating her escape. He clasps his hands before him, letting his robe fall open. He is wearing only briefs underneath, and Cassie's heart skips a beat as she spots the growing bulge in his crotch.

"Tell me, what is your name?" he asks, peering intently.

"Cassie," she replies in a tremulous voice.

The man smiles. "What a wonderful name. Yes. Now, my dear, do you need to use the bathroom or anything like that? Once we start, I'm not going to want to stop."

Cassie swallows and shakes her head, her eyes wide. For the first time in a long while she faces a potential sexual encounter with far more fear than anticipation. She finds nothing to arouse her: not him, not her own thoughts, not even her link-induced need.

"Excellent. Now, here, come to the living room with me."

Cassie considers returning to the line, regardless of how it may affect the man's sanity. For now, she is content to sense that her tether is still there.

He places his hands on her shoulders and guides her forward. She enters a sunken living room, the furnishings plush and opulent. Her steps are wobbly on the thick carpet.

He stops near the center of the room and tugs her fur coat. She trembles as it slides from her body. He tosses the coat into a chair and sits on the sofa before her, his heavy frame sinking into the plush cushions. "My dear, I have only but looked at you, and I am already quite hard."

Cassie is still feeling little in the way of sexual desire. When he beckons for her to step closer, she hesitates and again considers leaving. Only when she thinks of Jason and how the Harbingers are counting on her does she force herself to approach him.

He leans forward and places his hands around her sides. She utters a soft gasp and flinches as if a small electric shock has passed through her. His beefy hands slide slowly down her sides and around her hips, trailing little tingles of heat which spread over her body until her skin everywhere is flushed with gentle pleasure. She shudders as his hands continue down her thighs, then back up again, pulling her closer as they slide over her ass.

Cassie lets out a husky, quavering sigh as his fingers knead her ass cheeks. Her thighs quiver as heat gathers between them, hips writhing as an ache of need settles in her pussy.

The man smiles. "Yes, good, good, I still have it."

"Uhng ..." Cassie moans as his hands slide back up her body. She gasps as he roughly fondles her breasts. Her pussy oozes into her panties, hot and wet.

"Yes, my touch is so sexy, isn't it? The sexiest touch you've ever experienced."

Cassie squirms and pants, her nipples rising to hard, tingling points. She does not resist when he turns her around and pulls her into his lap. She settles against his portly frame, the great bulge in his crotch shoved against her helpless pussy. He strips her of the bra and cups her breasts in his hands, kneading them until her nipples throb with her pounding heart.

"They told me it wouldn't wear off, but I had to be sure," the man coos in her ear. "Oh, yes, you just love it when I touch you."

She is too consumed by the wanton desire his touch instills in her to think to ask him who "they" are.

"You love it so much, you won't care what I do with you."

Cassie shudders and utters a ragged sigh. She struggles to think through the lusty haze in her mind. Only when her arms are drawn behind her back does some semblance of rationality return, but her struggles are weak. Even as the rope is threaded around her arms, his fingers still brush her skin, his sexy touch sending her senses reeling. By the time she can muster any sort of resistance, her arms are already trussed behind her.

He lifts her helpless body from his and pushes her to her feet. His hands leave her, and slowly the pall starts to lift. She feels the tether growing taut and is inclined to follow it as she hears the slide of cloth against skin behind her.

His hands are on her again, and her thoughts dissolve once more into hot lust. She hears his labored, excited breathing as he yanks down her panties. She barely has time to step out of them when he grasps her hips and pulls her towards him.

"Uhhng!" Cassie cries as his thick cock pushes past her helpless labia and sinks deep inside her as she falls into his lap. She gasps and pants as her hips grind against his body, unable to get enough of his wonderful cock.

"Yes, you love feeling my cock inside you," the man growls in her ear. "You love having that older cock in your nice young twat."

He lifts her by her hips and lets her fall. She gasps in delight and tries to rise on her own, but he holds her fast. She is caught between her aching need and thoughts of escape. She pulls at her restraints to no avail.

"You love it so much, you won't care if I truss you up so tight you can't move a muscle."

Cassie whimpers as he makes her slowly hump his cock. She leans forward as much as she dares to feel his hard shaft against her clit.

"But don't worry, your pussy will stay nice and open to me."

Cassie pants hard as his cock pounds into her. She squirms and struggles, pulling hard at the ropes. Her fear escalates, growing as strong as her lust. She almost forgets about the tether, which is tightening like an overstretched rubber band.

The man moans and thrusts his hips up each time he yanks her down. "Oh God ... I'm going to love ... watching you struggle ... against the ropes while ... I fuck your brains out ... over and over ..."

Cassie arches her back as her pussy soars and strains at the edge, and her tether seems to strain along with it. She holds back the latter, forcing herself to do her duty, to push her endurance as far as it will go.

She lets out a shrill cry as she climaxes, her pussy throbbing hard and squeezing his cock. The man shudders and pulls her tight to him, burying his cock deep inside her. "Uhng! Uhng! Uhng!" the man grunts as his cock spasms in massive throbs, her tunnel flooding with his seed. "Oh God ... oh fuck ... oh--"

Cassie is whirling away in a blur of motion and light. She plunges backwards through the blue-white expanse, energy gathering behind her before parting around her, briefly slowing her retreat. She flails her arms and realizes that she can, as if the ropes have dissolved like so much smoke.

Suddenly she is rising through the mesa, and the cacophony of emotions almost prompts her to scream for it to stop: praise and admonishment, triumph and disgust, concern and scolding. She sails past and the dreamverse implodes around her ...

Cassie opened her eyes and sat up, still panting softly. She looked down at her arms, the skin still tingling where the ropes had pinched her. The ropes should have left indentations in her skin, yet it remained smooth. She uttered a slow, husky sigh, her pussy still throbbing in a weak vestige of her orgasm. The man had ejaculated inside her, yet now her pussy felt empty as if his cock had never been there.

Was that longer than last time? She had no way to tell. While it was happening, it seemed to go on forever. Now it felt like no time had passed at all. She glanced towards the bathroom and considered taking a shower before going back to sleep. She felt so dirty and violated now.

Cassie's head snapped around when she thought she felt something impinging on her empathic sense. The Presence again hovered in the distance. She felt approval before it vanished.

What exactly did it approve of? Even when she may have just scared a man into a heart attack with her abrupt disappearance? Even his perverted needs and the fact that he was likely affiliated with the cult did not dampen her sympathy.

At least she had answered one question: she could indeed engage in sexual activity in her Projected form. She never intended to put it to that sort of test ever again.

When Jason emerged from the bathroom after his shower, he had hoped his mother would be standing there. The big decision which had weighed him down had been resolved; all that remained was its implementation. He now had time to deal with other issues. However, he had yet to hear the garage door go up, so his father had likely intercepted his mother before she could enter his room.

Jason's flagging cock rose again to full hardness as he contemplated the confrontation with his mother the morning before. He wondered if sex with her was inevitable. It may be easier to let it happen and mitigate the aftershock. Perhaps the "trauma" over which he had been so worried was a moot point if she remained sexually attracted to him.

He understood that the Darkness was responsible for her mother's condition, but nothing said he could not perpetuate it himself if the Darkness withdrew, perhaps even change her personality so he wouldn't have to maintain control over her.

Jason slipped on his briefs just as a knock sounded at the door. "Come in, Dad."

The door opened, and Henry stepped into the room. He paused as his eyes darted to his son's erection, then let out a sigh as he closed the door behind him. "I was growing concerned for you."

"Why? I haven't been near Mom all morning," Jason said as he stepped over to the closet.

"You're running a little late."

"No, I'm not. I'm going to be taking my bike to school for a few days."

Henry narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"You told me there are very few bike lockers at school, and whenever you tried to use the normal bike stands, you got vandalized half the time."

"I'm sure I can get a locker, so don't sweat it."

"Jason, I have to leave for the hospital in a few minutes. I was hoping you'd be to the bus stop by then."

Jason put on his jeans, careful to fit them over his still hard cock. "Then leave."

"And leave you alone with your mother?"

"Dad, please, I can handle it now."

"Then maybe I'm protecting her from you," Henry said in a flat voice.

Jason grabbed his shirt and turned to face his father. "I've got everything under control."

"That's what I am afraid of, that you indeed have 'control.'"

"I didn't mean that kind of control," Jason said in a bored voice as he donned his shirt. "I haven't done anything like that."

"Yet."

Jason paused and nodded. "Yes. Yet."

Henry rubbed the back of his neck. "Jason, I wish you had told me you were going to start biking it, I could at least have rearranged my schedule."

"I said you don't--"

"I am not letting anything remotely sexual happen between you and your mother!" Henry hissed.

Jason paused as he cast a level look at his father. "All right. Then I'll influence her into not making advances at me."

"I don't want you controlling her, either."

"You can't have it both ways, Dad. Either I leave her be and leave open the possibility that we'll have sex, or I control her and guarantee it won't happen."

Henry frowned. "That's just it. You cannot guarantee anything of the sort. Once you have power over her, you'll want to ..." He trailed off.

"I'll want to what?" Jason said in a wary voice. "And how would you know?"

Henry sighed. "I am not telling you anything that touches on your beliefs as to what I am doing at the hospital," he said in a stiff voice. "As a general rule, if you have power, you will always want to use it for your own gratification."

"And is that what you do with the power you have?"

"I have no such power, Jason."

"Bullshit."

"So is this where you finally reveal just how you can tell?" Henry said in an exasperated voice. "Surely it cannot be as simple as looking at someone!"

Jason said nothing in reply, his eyes darting along the outlines of his father's Aura.

Henry lowered his gaze. "All right, I'll play the game by your rules if it means helping Audrey." He raised his eyes. "The kind of power I have is not at my discretion to use. Another has control of when it can and can't be used."

Jason stared at his father's Aura. "You don't mean ... someone else controls--"

Henry rolled his eyes. "Poor choice of words on my part. By 'control' I meant bureaucratic control. This is what I meant when I told you that there's something bigger at work here, that I don't have control of all the pieces."

"Sounds like you don't even have control over your own piece," Jason said as he headed to his backpack perched on the edge of the bed.

"Be that as it may, Jason, my point is that if I had authority to do so, I could fix part of this mess. I could get your mother back to normal."

Jason's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me that when this started?"

"I thought I had implied it. You could not begin to understand the kind of trouble I could get into for telling you even this much. By all rights you should be totally in the dark about what I am doing."

At first Jason wanted to rail at his father for withholding this critical piece of information. Perhaps when his mother had first started acting strange, he could have badgered his father enough to do something about it. Now he no longer felt that sense of urgency. He was no longer as concerned with returning his mother to whatever was considered normal for her. He would rather work with what he had.

He could at least claim one triumph. His father could no longer deny he was doing anything unusual at the hospital.

Jason heard a buzzing noise, and Henry suddenly clutched his pocket and yanked out his cell phone. He glanced at the caller ID and sighed. "Shit, I have to get going now. Jason, please, promise me you won't do anything with -- or to -- your mother today."

Jason resented being asked for any favors, yet he was weary of sparring with his father. He had more pressing concerns, such as determining the most efficient means to isolate Diane long enough to enslave her. "All right, fine, Dad, I promise."

Henry nodded as he opened the door behind him. "I'll hold you to your word, son," he said before he left.

Jason stared at the open door and shook his head.

Not long after the sound of the garage door had announced his father's departure, he heard his mother climb the stairs. His erection surged back in anticipation. When she appeared at the door, however, she wore her normal clothes.

"Sorry I couldn't see you earlier when you got out of the shower," she said in a sultry voice. "Your father was being a bit of a pain about it."

Jason gave her a tiny smile. "It's okay. Dad has a point, we really shouldn't ... well, mess around that way."

Audrey paused, then stepped into the room. "But I saw your cock, Jason."

Despite what he had been thinking just moments before, Jason still felt odd hearing his own mother say such a thing. "Um, I know, I didn't mind too much."

"The problem is, now I can't stop thinking about it. And then I thought, was that fair of me to see it when you didn't get anything in return."

"That's not a problem, really, just ... what ...?"

He trailed off as Audrey tugged her skirt down her hips and let it fall to her feet. A protest rose in Jason's mind as she grabbed the waistband of her panties, but it never made it to his mouth. He simply stared as his mother lowered her panties, the crotch peeling away from her mound, and it joined the skirt at her feet.

Jason stared at the bare, shaved labia, the swollen pinkness beyond glistening. His cock strained, rock-hard and pulsing with his heartbeat.

Had things gone too far? Was there any point to resisting? What obligation was he under to keep his word to his father?

"I've seen your stiff cock, Jason," Audrey cooed. "Now you've seen my wet pussy. That at least makes it fair."

"Yeah," Jason said in a weak voice. "Please ... you can ... you can pull them up again."

It was a struggle to force the words out, and for a moment he thought his mother would not comply. Instead, she reluctantly pulled her panties and skirt into place.

Jason let out a shaky sigh. He remained in control. If he did anything with his mother, it would be by his choice and not because his mother coaxed him into doing it. He had to make the first move to ensure he was in the right.

"I better get going," Jason said as he picked up his backpack.

Audrey blocked him at the door. "Jason, you need to understand something. It just gets worse every day. Unless you do something, unless you control me, I'm going to get your cock in my pussy."

"I'm still considering it."

"You could control me another way," Audrey said. "If we did have sex, I'm sure I would feel awful about it afterward, no matter how good it was. You could make it so I don't, so that I'll just be happy to fuck you whenever you want."

"I-I know. I'm going to have to decide what's best. But it has to be me who decides. Please ... I have to get to school."

Audrey slowly nodded and smiled as she stepped aside.

Jason raced out of the room and down the stairs. His cock twitched at the possibility of having another nice, wet, and willing pussy to keep it well-pleased. He felt he deserved it for taking on so much enormous responsibility.

Melinda shivered as she slowly slipped on one of her white stockings, the silky slide of the sheer material far more arousing than the touch of any lover. She uttered a husky sigh as her toes filled the end, echoed by a deeper sigh off to the side.

"Mmm, yes, that's it," Jo said in a sultry voice near the door. Melinda looked up and saw Jo tilt her hips and slide one foot to the side. Her fingers toyed with her panties, occasionally tugging them into her slit or flirting with the edge of the waistband.

Melinda felt flushed as she picked up the second stocking, slowly rolling it out. She saw Aunt Jo's already lascivious smile grow more lustful as Melinda pointed her toes into the stocking and slid it over her leg.

Melinda shuddered at the surge of heat in her pussy as she tugged the stocking into place. She slid her hands over her thighs and calves, uttering a soft moan as her own touch made her pussy ache.

Jo gave her niece a smarmy smile as she strolled inside, teasing her own pussy with a gentle caress of fingers over her crotch. Melinda's eyes were riveted to the sight. She slid her legs against one another to feel more of the sexy touch of her stockings, until the pressure of her thighs against her swelling folds made them tingle in low but rising pleasure.

"Go ahead, put on your garters," Jo purred. She gave her mound another light stroke through the panties before framing it with her fingers. "I know how much you would love to have this now, but you need to become the slutty little girl for me."

Melinda stood, trembling from aching, wet need. She cast a lingering, lustful glance at Jo's crotch before walking to the dresser. She moved across the room with a strut in her walk, as if showing off her stockings to a crowd. She bent over to reach the bottom drawer, keeping her legs straight and slightly parted so her pussy would peek out between her thighs.

"Such the little slut you are, baring yourself like that," Jo said in a sly voice.

Melinda shuddered and swayed her hips, her arousal oozing between her labia. She kept her back towards Jo as she slipped on each garter, tugging them into place just above mid-thigh. She turned around as she snapped the straps into place between them and the tops of her stockings.

"Everything such a pretty, pure white," Jo cooed. "But we know the truth, don't we?"

"Yes, I'm becoming more a total slut every day," Melinda said in a quavering voice. She bit her lower lip to suppress a moan as her pussy throbbed weakly with her pounding heart.

"And why is that?"

"B-because I can't stop showing myself off. I can't stop flashing my wet pussy at everyone."

"And what do you think is the next step in becoming a total slut, hmm?"

Melinda's eyes widened. "I ... I don't ..."

But Melinda did know, and she swallowed as Aunt Jo stepped close enough for her to smell her aunt's arousal. She licked her lips as if in anticipation of savoring the taste of Jo's pussy.

"A true slut doesn't stop at just teasing," Jo said in a soft voice as she played with one of Melinda's breasts.

Melinda shuddered and moaned, leaning into her aunt's touch until her nipples became tingly and hard. She panted as Jo rubbed them with quick, hard strokes until Melinda's pleasure rose again, her hips swaying and her feet sliding apart in silent invitation.

Jo withdrew her hands and stepped back. "You're going to find a boy today at school and let him fuck you. Be a total slut for him."

Melinda stared, the brazenness of the demand overwhelming the immediacy of her lust. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"I doubt you'll have a lack of willing partners after you've shown what you have for them."

"I-I don't mean that! I can't ... I'll get caught or something!"

"You're a very clever girl, Melinda. I'm sure you'll find a way. And it's what I want of you."

Melinda shuddered and rubbed her calves together, letting out a shaky breath as she wallowed in the illusion of innocence. She fingered her garters, bringing her back to reality, her pussy suddenly aching for a cock to plunge into it and help her become the total slut she was meant to be.

"Now, before you get dressed, come here."

Melinda stepped forward and whimpered as she saw the rings in Jo's hand. Heat flared and steamed in her pussy as first one ring was clamped tight around a tingling, sensitized nipple and then the other. Jo smiled and flicked at them, sparking little bursts of straining pleasure which pooled in Melinda's sex and lay there on a slow, maddening simmer.

"You get to keep these on all day. They'll keep you nice and wet for those boys. Oh, and he can't be one of your friends."

Melinda wanted to beg of her aunt to reveal why Jo saw the need to so thoroughly humiliate her. Did Jo plan on taking Melinda out of school and thought it easier if they expelled her? Or was she making Melinda want to be taken out of school just to spare her further embarrassment? Even if Jo suddenly had a change of heart and Melinda never saw her again, Melinda had already gained notoriety at school.

In effect, she had already become the class slut.

"Now get dressed and get on to school," Jo said. She gestured towards Melinda's bed. "I laid out your clothes while you were in the shower."

Melinda felt like she might not have bothered with the shower with as wet and messy as she already felt. She picked up the skirt, paused, and held it against her. "I-I can't wear this," she said in a weak voice.

Jo raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I told you yesterday that Vice Principal Seeger said it was too revealing."

Jo chuckled. "Put it on."

"B-but--"

"Sluts don't pay attention to such rules. And what are you?"

"I'm ... I'm a slutty little girl about to become a total slut," Melinda said in a tiny voice as she lowered her gaze. She let out a small, sad sigh as she stepped into the skirt. The melancholy faded into wanton desire as she pulled the skirt up her legs. She spun around once and adored how the pleats rose just enough to expose her pussy to anyone around her.

She put on the blouse, and the tightness across her chest tugged at the rings, making her hips writhe in desperate need as she struggled to secure the buttons. The rings stood out against the blouse, two very clear circles topped with the swollen knobs of her aroused nipples.

Jo ran a single fingertip around the circumference of one, then flicked her finger hard against the metal-clamped nipple. Melinda's hips jerked as pleasure suddenly flared, as if about to send her into a quick orgasm. Instead, it fell back and re-joined the molten pool of unrequited lust already overflowing from her pussy and making the top inside of her thighs damp.

Jo smiled and gave Melinda a light slap on her ass. "Now get your naughty, slutty self to school and make some boy's day."

Melinda nodded, not trusting her voice to do anything other than moan or whimper in both rising desire and deepening despair. Her nipples throbbed as she picked up her backpack, every movement of her breasts against the tight blouse sending her nipples into renewed low paroxysms of unwanted pleasure.

Melinda sped around Jo but slowed at the door, hoping her aunt would let them have a quick tryst together before school. Melinda clutched the door frame and shuddered. She realized how deep she had gone. Jo had all but broken her.

Melinda stepped past the door before Jo could ask what was wrong. She started to bound down the stairs, only to gasp and clutch the banister a few steps down, the wild bounce of her bosom having already brought her to the straining edge of orgasm. Panting softly, she took the remaining stairs at a sedate pace, though each jostle of her breasts was another spike of pleasure to her already aching and tortured pussy.

At the bottom of the stairs, she paused until the ache in her nipples had lessened. She stiffened as she turned her gaze towards her mother, who stood in the doorway of the kitchen, her robe loosely sashed, a steaming mug of coffee in her hand.

"Good morning," Penny said in a soft if slightly somber voice.

Melinda clenched her teeth and glared at her mother with a fury which burned hotter than anything Aunt Jo could do to her lust. Without a word, she marched across the house, keeping her gaze steadfast and forward, ignoring the renewed spikes of desire which followed each jiggle of her breasts.

"Melinda?" Penny said in a voice of rising concern as she stepped out of the doorway.

Melinda ignored her mother and quickened her pace. She was almost upon the door when a hand closed around her arm. She whirled around and wrenched it away with such violence that she felt a momentary but sharp twinge of pain near her shoulder.

"What the hell do you want?" Melinda snapped, though the husky edge to her voice masked some of her rage.

Penny hesitated, her clouded eyes darting to the side for a moment. "Melinda, I ... I just ... I-I'm sorry for all this, I never ..."

"Sorry? Sorry?!" Melinda exploded. "That's all you have to say about it?!"

Penny's eyes shimmered, and she wrapped both hands around her coffee cup as if suddenly cold. "I don't know why things are going the way they are. I didn't mean for this to happen to Heather or to you. I only meant--"

"I'll tell you why everything's going the way it is, Mom!" Melinda thundered. "It happened because you screwed up! It happened because you did something stupid!"

Penny bit her lip, and she trembled.

Melinda wiped a tear from one of her cheeks. "You used to get on my case for not having any idea of what I wanted to do when I grew up," she said in a shaky voice. "Well, now you know. I get to be a sex slave. Hope you're happy now."

Melinda spun away from her mother and grasped the knob of the front door. She had just wrested it open when her mother said in a despondent voice, "No, I'm not at all happy about it."

Melinda hesitated and looked over her shoulder. She could never remember hearing her mother ever say something like that, or look as forlorn and devastated as she did then. If it had been two weeks ago, perhaps Melinda could have mustered up some sympathy. She may have even held out some hope that her mother still wanted to fix everything.

Or even believed Heather's fanciful notions that her mother was trying to protect them.

Now with her induced lust threatening to fill her mind with little more than aching need, with her thoughts already turning towards what lucky cock would get to bang the school slut, she narrowed her eyes at her mother and declared in a low voice, "I don't care what you feel anymore."

She dashed out, ignoring the small sob she convinced herself she only thought she heard just before she slammed the door.

Jason stood beside his bike near the bicycle lockers, looking across the parking lot. The first of the school buses had yet to arrive, and only a few scattered groups of students milled about in the crisp morning air. Much of the thin coating of fresh snow lay untouched.

He did not have long to wait, and felt himself very fortunate when he saw his quarry was a girl. He guessed that the straight-haired blonde was a senior given her height and his lack of recognition. He knew most of the students of his own sophomore year and most of the juniors through his association with Heather and Diane.

The girl had dismounted her bike at the street and now wheeled it towards the lockers. She gave Jason nothing more than a disinterested glance.

"Hi," Jason said.

The girl paused just short of a locker and frowned. She finally looked at Jason. "Um, hi," she said in an uncertain voice.

"I was wondering if you might do me a favor."

She gave him a tiny smirk and opened the locker. "Not likely."

"I think you'll want to at least listen to what I have to say before you dismiss me."

The girl paused. "And why is that?"

"Because you're curious now as to why someone you have obviously classified as a dweeb would think he could talk to someone like you."

The girl snorted. "Oh, this just gets better. Okay, fine, whatever. What is it you want?"

"I want to borrow your bike locker for a couple of days."

The girl laughed. "Right. Sure. And what do I get in return?"

Jason was following instinct, something new to him. He simply trusted that the right things would come into his head like they did at the Inn.

"Well?" the girl asked in a voice of both derision and impatience.

"In return I don't mention how this is really your boyfriend's locker."

The girl's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to protest, hesitated, and then her words came out in a quavering rush. "It's his locker, he can do what he wants with it."

Jason shook his head. "The school rules clearly state that they are not transferable."

"So who the hell are you, Seeger's minion or something? I don't even know why I'm talking to you about this." She started to roll her bike into the locker.

"Because the last thing you want to do is get your boyfriend in trouble."

The girl shuddered and stopped. She let out a low sigh.

Things simply fell into place in Jason's mind. "The boyfriend you've been having sex with in return for using the locker."

The girl swallowed hard, and her hips swayed. "That's none of your business," she said in a weak but husky voice.

"You've been thinking about it since I mentioned him."

"That's ..." Her hips squirmed, and when she took a deep breath, two prominent nubs rose against her sweater. She raised a trembling hand to her cheek. "God, wh-why I am so ...?"

"Horny?"

The girl shot him a glare, but it was weak. "Look, just ... no, I can't let you ..."

"Your boyfriend will really be disappointed if the locker is taken away from him."

The girl bit her lower lip and tilted her hips, her feet sliding further apart.

"Bet you've really enjoyed the hot sex with him."

The girl let out a shaky sigh. Her hands curled around the handlebars of her bike until the knuckles turned white.

"You just can't stop thinking about his cock inside you."

"Uhng ... why are you ... f-fuck, I'm wet ..."

"Let me use the locker, and he won't get in trouble," Jason said with a small grin. "And you get to keep fucking him."

"I-I didn't want to do it, but he wouldn't let me borrow it any other way," the girl confessed. "Wh-why did I tell you that?"

"But you really like fucking him."

"Y-yes ..." she moaned

"So much so you'll let him fuck you all he wants."

The girl whimpered and panted softly. "A-All right," she breathed as she backed her bike out of the locker. "You can use it. Just ... just don't get my sexy boyfriend in trouble."

Jason smiled as he wheeled his bike forward. "Wouldn't think of it."

Diane was never one to look out the window when traveling. Even when her parents took her on a long road trip through the mountains, she rarely took interest in the scenery. Her focus was always on where she was going, as if she needed to save her energy for that. She used to drive her parents to distraction on very long trips when she was a child.

Yet one frantic phone call from Richie the night before had changed all that.

Now she could not keep her eyes from the window. Each time the school bus stopped, she took notice as to how many places one could hide and observe her unseen. It did not help matters that the bus had been delayed by a mechanical issue soon after picking her up.

Diane finally forced her face from the window when the bus pulled through an intersection after the light turned green. She sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back and rubbing at a stiff muscle along the side of her neck.

This is stupid, Diane lamented. I'm just being a coward again. He's not going to try to intercept the bus on his bike.

She tried to tell herself that she would not feel as frightened had her mother not allowed her take the call from Richie well past her phone curfew without complaint; or if it were not for the anxious look on her mother's face and the reluctance in which Janet had put down the other extension, as if having just sensed some grave threat to her daughter.

But then again, Richie is not exactly subtle, Diane thought with a sigh.

Yet her mother had to be sensing something. Every day was filled with more words of caution. "Be mindful of what's going on around you." "Pay more attention to people's feelings." "Don't go taking on things you don't feel up to doing." "You tell me at once if anyone does or says anything that makes you feel uncomfortable to be around them."

And then the most ominous one delivered to her that morning: "I'd prefer you not travel about town by yourself, but make sure you can absolutely trust whom you associate with."

Diane wrapped her arms around herself and tried to ignore her pounding heart as the bus swayed through the final turn down the street which would lead directly to Haven High. What was she expecting would happen, that Jason would jump her as soon as she stepped off the bus? Surely he was not about to do anything to her in school. The school was, ironically, the safest place in town to be.

Nevertheless, she could not calm herself until she saw her familiar circle of friends when she stepped off the bus. She raced over to them as a rather animated Richie was repeating to the others what he had already told her the night before.

"Diane!" Cassie called out. "Oh, Diane, thank goodness! When your bus was late this morning, I worried that--"

"No Aura," Melinda declared, though her voice was weaker than usual. "Nothing at all."

"I'm fine, really, Cassie," Diane said, speaking with a greater conviction than she felt. "Richie called me last night, so I've been careful this morning."

"Ya know, I mighta said that ya were bein' a little paranoid, old hoss," Ned said to Richie. "But the fact that he's gone ta free-wheelin' it on his bike, that's gonna make 'im a lot more mobile than the rest of us."

"No fucking way is he going to get her alone after school," Richie said, his hands clenched into fists. "I'm gonna be sticking to Diane like freaking glue every minute she's not in her own house."

"An' I'm gonna help ya with that, pardner. You two gonna go on another pendant lark?"

Melinda snorted. "Waste of fucking time," she muttered.

Diane was too distracted by Melinda's comment to hear Ned's question. Thus she wondered if she had missed something when Richie looked expectantly at her, prompting him to ask after a moment's pause, "You still want to do it this afternoon?"

"Do ...? Oh, the pendant? Yes, we were going to the old cemetery this time, right?"

"I still think you're insane," Melinda snapped. "You're lucky nothing happened to you at the church!"

"It really did look pretty much abandoned," Diane said. "And Richie's visions don't take very long."

"Gotta admit, wish I could get a gander at one," Ned said. "But I gotta be point man, and yer better at explainin' what yer seeing ta Heather."

"How the hell is it going to help?" Melinda cried, her voice becoming increasingly shrill.

"Melinda, it's looking like your Aunt Jo might be behind some of what's happening," Diane said.

"So what if she is? It was still my mother who acted stupid!"

"But she may have been tricked by Jo! Don't you even want to know if you're hating the right person?"

"Fuck you, Diane! You don't have to tell me what to feel! I already get enough of that at home!"

Diane flinched at the initial expletive as if something had flown at her face. She came close to retorting with a comment about Melinda's supposed maturity until she caught the swipe of Melinda's hand across her cheek. Diane stared when she saw Melinda's eyes glisten and thought she heard a tiny sniffle.

Oh dear God, just how bad is it at her house? Diane narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. What's that on her breasts near her ... are those ... rings?!

Melinda blushed scarlet. Without a word, she whirled around and raced towards the school.

"Wait, Melinda!" Cassie called out. "Please, don't ... oh no ..."

"It's my fault," Diane said in a miserable voice. "I think she saw me staring at ... um ... maybe I shouldn't mention--"

"Ya mean the circular adult recreational devices perched upon the pinnacle of her matronly mammaries?" Ned drawled. "Yeah, ya could say they didn't 'xactly escape my notice."

"I didn't want to say anything for fear of embarrassing ... um ..." Cassie trailed off when she glanced at Diane's somber face. "Diane, it's not your fault. She was already on edge. If it wasn't you who set her off, it would have been someone else."

"For fuck's sake, she needs to get over herself," Richie said.

"Richie!" Cassie cried in shock. "You have no idea what she's going through. None of us do."

"Yeah, don't be a dick about it, dude," Ned said.

Richie had already opened his mouth in another likely retort, but to Diane's surprise it suddenly snapped shut. He gave the others a subdued, almost sheepish look and thrust his hands into his pockets. "Sorry," he said in a low voice.

Cassie paused, looking as taken aback by Richie's sudden retreat as Diane felt. "Anyway ... thank you, Richie and Ned, for offering to help protect Diane."

"Diane, I'll head over to your house after I get home," Richie said. "Don't go to the cemetery by yourself."

Diane nodded, still staring at Richie. "Sure, okay."

"And can you escort her home as well?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah, sure, I can do that," said Richie.

"Hmm," Ned said. "Jus' thought o' something. Diane, how far is it ta yer bus stop?"

Diane's eyes widened as she realized the same thing as Ned. "About two blocks."

"An' I don't s'pose those two blocks are packed with crowds of nice convenient witnesses?"

Diane sighed and shook her head. "It's almost rural on that side of town."

"And I'll betcha there's a lotta back roads that ain't even on the map."

"Yes, those too."

"But that's right near her home!" Cassie cried. "You really think he would risk it there?"

"No, Ned's right," Diane said in a despondent voice. "If he gets me enough to want to follow him, he could take me into a secluded area and no one would know what was happening."

"I think we gotta call in adult support on this," said Ned.

"Oh, but Ned, Mrs. Radson is too busy with the potion today!"

"Ya told me yerself that she said it hasta just sit there and percolate fer awhile. She's gotta be able ta spare a few minutes fer this."

"The road I have to use has a slight curve to it," Diane said. "She wouldn't have to drive me home. She could just park across the street and she'd be able to see me the whole time."

Cassie sighed. "All right, I'll call her during lunch. By then she should be done mixing the actual ingredients."

"She'll have to do it only once or twice, right?" Diane asked, her voice quavering. "Then the potion will be ready and that will take care of the problem."

Diane was no longer as keen to take the potion as she once was. The danger loomed in her mind of what could happen if Debby made a mistake. The only thing pushing her was the possibility of freeing Heather.

"I hope so, Diane," Cassie said in an uncertain voice. "I really hope so."

Feedback

Did you like this story? Hate it? Printed it and lined the birdcage with it?

Please take a moment to send me some comments about this story. Your comments may remain anonymous if you prefer, or you can include an email address in your comments if you wish a reply.

Since this is a multi-part story, you may wait until the last chapter to send feedback about the story as a whole if you wish.