Chapter 26

“We are ascendant.” Eloise sat in the locked room, holding a crystal tumbler with sloshing amber liquid. Frederick would have been better off poisoning her, she mused. If he hadn’t been pulled by his grandiosity to make a show with the clock, Eloise wouldn’t have been sitting in his despicable lair all those decades later to toast to his imminent demise. “To your father. May he rot in Heaven.”

“Hear, hear.” Thomas smiled at his mother and clanked his crystal glass against hers. “But Mother, should you be drinking in your condition?” He nodded at her pregnant belly where his baby perpetually readied itself for the world. “You know what the living say about alcohol.” He arched one of his red eyebrows, making his freckled face seem even more boyish than his nineteen years. Of course, he had been nineteen for a long time. He had settled into an infinite youth.

Eloise let her bright laugh fill the drab space. She looked up at the dead bear and laughed harder. Mother and son laughed together for a good long while. Victory was just around the corner, and it tasted ever so sweet. Eventually they calmed down. “Some twenty-two mothers have taken the step we did all those years ago. All of them within a few miles of here.”

“That many?” Thomas smiled, thinking of the surprise and ecstasy that must be written on the faces of all those young men. He remembered well the first time his mother took him into her bed. It was the zenith of his life and afterlife. He envied all those young men their first time. As sweet as that apple was, nothing beat that first bite.

“Indeed.” Eloise took a sip of her whisky. “We should strike while the iron’s hot. We need to bring your father back to the house.”

“The old man is confused. He’s lost. What would bring him here?” Thomas was genuinely curious. His mother so rarely shared her plans, it seemed he was finally being treated like a man.

“Love would be the leash that leads most men. But not him. Every time you and I share our special bond, his rage and jealously roams boundless.” Eloise regarded Thomas. He looked very much like his father, but for his complexion.

“Our love begets his hate.” Thomas paused. “Will that make him too strong?”

“It will give him focus but not strength. Our power is now at least his equal.”

“Is it time for you and I to...” Thomas looked at her hopefully.

“Almost, dearie.” Eloise leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. “Power flows into this house and may now bind Him and Frederick. Only a few more hours, I think.”

Madison trembled as she followed Brittney and Daniel up their front walk. This was a big day. She just knew she was going to lose her virginity to Daniel. She wasn’t sure how he was going to fit inside her, but they were going to make it work.

The next hour was a whirlwind for the three eighteen-year-olds. Daniel had asked a question Madison had barely heard. She had said yes. He then tossed her in a cold shower. My how her body had burned. Madison had thought she’d actually caught fire. And when she exited the icy water, her body had become more womanly. It was the most twisted of miracles. He led her to Brittney’s room, where she rode Daniel with complete joy on Brittney’s bed, her blue hair bouncing up and down. Orgasms rolled through her body unlike any she’d had before. These were deeper and overpowering. During her lucid moments, Madison would look up at Brittney who stood by one of the windows and she would smile at the twin. Brittney would smile back, her hand working frantically under her skirt.

“Oh, Danny ... I’m gonna ... again...” Madison increased her pace.

Something caught Brittney’s eye out in the garden, and she looked away from her brother and Madison down to the rosebush. “Eloise is outside in the weeds, Danny. And she’s doing it ... with her son.” As she said those words, the house gave a sudden shudder. The windows all rattled. Normally, watching a son and mother do it doggystyle would have excited Brittney, even if they were phantoms. But Brittney felt her pussy dry up. Something was wrong.

Madison and Daniel barely heard Brittney. They went right on humping. Madison bounced so hard her knees lifted off the blanket on every upstroke.

The house shook again, and dust settled from the rafters of the tower room around them. Brittney thought she could hear heavy footsteps. A deep chill settled inside her. Something was very wrong.

“Is he ... ugh ... here, Mother?” Thomas humped Eloise’s round rump with great, long strokes. He hadn’t had a chance to mate his mother since they were first seducing the Andersons. It was always spectacular taking her with his baby in her belly, regardless of the situation.

“Yes ... he’s coming...” Eloise shuddered as her son’s bludgeon savaged her. “Keep ... going ... when he gets close ... we’ll open the rosebush.” They would have to be careful not to be swallowed by their prison as they disposed of Frederick. “Hump me ... Thomas ... destroy my crinkum crankum.”

A loud bang sounded at the door. Madison’s hips finally went still. “What was that?” Madison covered her now large boobs with her arm and looked at Brittney’s door with wide eyes. She still sat astride Daniel, sweat trickling down her back and chest.

“Brit?” Daniel was suddenly paralyzed with fear. “What’s that?” But deep inside, Daniel knew what it was.

The door burst open, and in strode Frederick. He wore formal tails and a top hat. The occasion clearly called for his best. His mustache and eyes were at their deepest black, and his mouth was set in a thin line of determination. “She plans a deception. But her attempt to draw me out has only made me stronger.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Madison still sat on Daniel as that strange, violent looking man descended upon her. Daniel’s penis was snug inside her, until it wasn’t, and she was weaving up in the air. The man had grabbed her by her hair and held her aloft.

“You are not the fornicator I want.” Frederick tossed the teenager aside.

Madison, naked and terrified, tumbled into a nook beside Brittney’s dresser and lay still.

“You.” Frederick looked down at Daniel. “I only ever wanted to save the likes of you. Your soul is now stained with her corruption. I am sorry I couldn’t get to you sooner. But there are others to save.” Frederick reached down and lifted Daniel from the bed by his right shoulder. The clavicle on that side gave an audible pop as it broke. Frederick looked down at the deflating penis on the lad. “Your disgusting slug was only used for evil ends. After my task is done, maybe He will forgive you.”

Daniel grunted in pain as his shoulder caved in. “Get off...” He struggled against the phantom, but for all his strength he couldn’t pry those frigid fingers off his naked flesh.

“Let him go!” Brittney charged Frederick, but the man lifted her by her brown hair and looked into her face with cruel indifference. Brittney kicked at the air, swaying next to her brother.

“It was smart of my wife to use twins for her villainy.” Frederick lifted Brittney higher to get a good look at her. He could smell her wanton corruption in the air and on her fingers. “I gifted my wife the binary ring on our wedding as a symbol of what two could accomplish together. I thought we were headed for greatness. But instead, we trod separate paths.” Frederick carried the twins out of the tower and down the stairs.

“Let them go.” Penelope charged Frederick swinging a broom like a club. On her heels, Khadra ran right behind her.

“Darkness.” Frederick swung Daniel’s limp body at Penelope and sent her careening into the hallway wall. He then used Daniel as a weapon again, and sent Khadra to the other wall. Both women slumped to the floor. “You all incubate such darkness. And you would spread it through the world. I will come back and deal with you in a moment’s time.” Frederick walked on and descended the main stairs. Both twins hung limply from his hands now. He held them out before him like removing mice from the pantry.

“What have you done?” Julie stood in shock looking up the stairs as that large devil carried her children like rag dolls. “Let them go.”

“Kindly step aside, madame.” Frederick arrived at the bottom of the stairs and kept walking right up to the matriarch. “You’ve all been tainted. I cannot save you. But I can save the world.” When Julie stood her ground, Frederick used her daughter’s unconscious body to swat her aside.

Julie rolled to the side of the entryway and cradled her swollen belly. She prayed for the baby and slowly stood. Limping after Frederick, Julie would do whatever she could to stop him. She watched him turn left outside the front door and hurried after.

“Still rutting like a bitch, darling?” Frederick was in sight of his wife and son now. He marched through the high weeds and stopped about fifteen feet from them. The rosebush was right behind them. “Such a facile plan befitting a sow of your order.”

“Get off me, Thomas.” Eloise reached back and pushed her son’s hips, dislodging him from inside her. She stood, her pale, freckled skin glistening in the sun. She put both hands on her belly protectively. “Leave them out of this, Frederick.”

Beside Eloise, Thomas pulled up his trousers and tightened his suspenders. “What should we do, Mother?”

“Patience,” Eloise said to her son. “Did you hurt the Andersons, Frederick?”

“I hurt them less so than you did.” Frederick held up the twins like prized trophies, both hanging limp from his hands. Brittney, fully dressed, and Daniel naked. Daniel looked exceedingly vulnerable as his slack, skinny form swayed with Frederick’s movements. “You have stained them. Even He cannot undo your work.”

“That’s because He is almost as impotent as you.” Eloise sighed. She leaned in toward Thomas. “I’m going to have to drag him in, dearie. Make sure the twins are safe,” she whispered.

“But Mother –” Thomas looked at her with wide eyes.

“Keep that stiff upper lip, Thomas.” Behind Eloise the rosebush unfurled, vines spreading out like tentacles, deep red flowers trembling.

Julie came to a stop ten feet behind Frederick. She gawked in awe at the pregnant, naked woman with writhing vines behind her. “Let my children go,” she screamed.

“Not today,” Frederick snorted and stole a quick glance back at Julie. She was alone, and worth little to no attention. He turned back to his wife. “Step back into that prison you created and I won’t harm the Andersons. Defy me, and I will do the Lord’s work and purge your darkness from them.”

“If He is so powerful, why does he not come for me Himself?” Eloise took a step toward Frederick.

“Why is your angel not here with you?” Frederick eyed her with suspicion. “Take no more steps toward me, woman.”

Thomas moved off to the side, circling his father. To Thomas’s side now, the bush extended to a great height, its thorns sharp and ready.

“It seems we are agents of greater, or lesser, things.” Eloise broke into a run. “Your master would maim and destroy to enforce His rules. Freedom is not darkness. Tyranny spreads a boundless shade.” She didn’t give Frederick an opportunity to reply. She jumped through the air, her belly and breasts briefly defying gravity as she arced down toward her husband. The binary diamonds on her ring glittered with swift movement.

Frederick needed his hands. He dropped the twins into the weeds and reached up to tangle with his wife. A loud smash shook the house and reverberated back to them from the woods as the phantoms collided. The tall, immaculate man in his dark suit, and the shorter, wild woman wrestled to the ground. He held her wrists firm, but their strength seemed evenly matched. They rolled a few feet toward the rosebush. The waving vines shivered and shook at their approach.

Seeing her opportunity, Julie raced forward, cradling her belly as she ran. She still prayed for the baby inside, and also for the twins. She saw Thomas move for Daniel, so Julie swerved left to grab Brittney. The long dead husband and wife grunted and hissed at each other as they fought in the weeds. Julie ignored them, and grabbed her unconscious daughter under her arms and pulled her away. When she’d gone about ten feet, Julie sat in on the ground and pulled Brittney into her lap.

Brittney’s blue eyes fluttered open. She looked up into her mother’s frightened eyes. “What happened?”

“Frederick,” Julie whispered. She looked up at the struggling couple as a deep yell filled the air. One of the vines had Frederick by the ankle. The vine steadily dragged Eloise and Frederick closer to the bush.

Brittney looked over just as Thomas dropped Daniel next to Julie.

“I’m coming, Mother!” Thomas ran over to the struggling couple.

“Danny?” Julie pulled Daniel into her lap next to his sister and she was relieved to see him open his eyes and look around.

“Mom?” Daniel heard the fight and looked toward the writhing rose vines. “They’re going to imprison Frederick,” he croaked. But then Eloise gave out a scream. He saw a vine cinch around her arm. Crimson droplets ran from the plant’s embrace. “Eloise!” Daniel tried to get up, but his mother held him to her bosom. His left shoulder surged with pain.

“Stay back, Thomas,” Eloise hissed between gritted teeth. The Palmers were moving faster toward the cage as more vines wrapped around their bodies, digging in with thorns.

“No, Mother.” Thomas dropped to his knees next to his parents and tried to pry the vines off Eloise. But in seconds, he too was brought into the rose’s embrace. The vines lifted all three into the air.

“You cannot stop Him,” Frederick bellowed.

Thomas reached for his mother’s hand and wrenched it away from Frederick. Son held tightly to mother.

“Goodbye, dearies.” Eloise, her face beautiful, poised, and calm, caught Daniel’s eye. She gave a brief sad smile, and was gone.

The rosebush swallowed all three Palmers, folded in on itself, and returned to normal. A silence fell over the yard.

“I ... I...” Julie looked for the right thing to say. Her chest rose and fell, adrenaline coursing through her. “I don’t want either of you ever going near those roses.”

“Yes, Mom.” Brittney pushed herself deeper into her mother’s lap.

Daniel said nothing. He just stared at where Eloise had been with his mouth hanging open.

The house was quiet over the next few weeks. Julie, Penelope, and Khadra continued to grow, their babies healthy despite their run-ins with Frederick. Daniel wore his left arm in a sling while he healed.

Brittney’s belly began to swell as the weather warmed. One day she came home with the happy news that she was having twins.

It took Madison a long time to brave the house again, but eventually she returned.

“Ooooohhhhhhh ... Danny ... I can’t believe it fits.” Madison lay on her stomach, letting her new boyfriend do the work. Her large breasts pushed into Daniel’s mattress as he found a rhythm behind her. Madison felt a sudden sense of panic. The last time Daniel was inside her had ended with trauma for all of them. “That ... ugh ... horrible man is really gone?”

“Yeah ... don’t worry...” Daniel inched himself into Madison’s pussy. “He’s gone.” And so was Eloise. No one at the house had heard a peep from any of the apparitions since the day the rosebush had swallowed the Palmers.

“Oh, no. You’re so deep.” Madison kicked the mattress with both feet has she felt Daniel’s cock push something out of the way inside her. Soon, she had no room in her mind to think about Frederick Palmer or anyone else for that matter. It was simply a rolling chorus of orgasms for the afternoon.

“Gonna ... cum...” Daniel took a fistful of blue hair and pulled Madison’s head so that she was looking straight ahead, her hands gripped the blanket in front of her.

“Wait ... wait...” Madison shrieked out one last orgasm thinking about her friend’s swelling belly. Brittney’s own brother had knocked her up, and now Madison was about to accept the very same cum that had done the deed. That idea gave her the best orgasm of the day as she felt his heat fill her womb.

Ever the gentleman, Daniel helped her shower. To show her appreciation, Madison blew him as warm water cascaded all around them. She sputtered and sucked down part of his load, spitting the rest down the drain. It was the first time she’d ever tried to swallow. She knew he’d give her more practice. They then dressed, and Daniel walked her down to the front door.

“When can I see you ... and Brittney ... again?” Madison stopped in the entry room and gave Daniel an impromptu peck on the cheek.

“Maybe on Friday –” Daniel was interrupted by Julie coming out of the kitchen.

“Cookies? I meant to get them to you before you were leaving, Madison. Sorry.” Julie stood naked, her ripe body curving every which way. She held a tray of chocolate chip cookies in front of her.

Madison’s eyes bulged as she ogled the pregnant woman. Madison stared at fertility personified. She looked at the heavy boobs pressing themselves to the round belly. The nipples and areolas were so dark, and Madison could see the crisscross of blue veins under Julie’s pale skin. She realized she was staring, but couldn’t help herself.

“I asked my mom to walk around naked most of the time,” Daniel said matter-of-factly. “It’s not so cold with spring here. My dad’s not around. And it makes things easier.”