Chapter 29

Cassie gasped as she bolted upright in bed, panting hard, her eyes glazed. Under the sheet, her thighs were wet and slippery, her pussy hot and straining. The next second, she was startled as the alarm clock went off. She jerked her body around, one thigh squeezing against the other. She cried out softly as she crested, her pussy throbbing gently.

Trembling, she reached over and slapped at the clock until it was silenced, then collapsed back onto the mattress for a few moments to catch her breath and to let her orgasm fade. As she did, she replayed the dream in her conscious mind several times, now devoid of the direct emotional content, allowing her to think more lucidly about it.

It was the strongest dream she had had on this. Never before had it been so clear. She could almost feel it being taken from her, as if she were the one in her dream being affected. Yet she knew she was not; she had simply assumed a role, for she knew that what was desired could be provided only by one she had taken. By a "pet" of hers.

She shivered at the word. The next moment, her eyes opened wide and she sat up in bed as comprehension dawned.

Harvested... A seed... So much faster... So easier...

Cassie shivered as she understood now what Nyssa was doing, and what Nyssa was about to do. Now she understood Jason's sensation of racing the clock. If Nyssa was not stopped soon, she may be able to affect so many people at once that no matter how hard they tried, the number they rescued would barely put a dent in Nyssa's plans.

There was only one detail of the dream that had escaped her. That odd trailing glitter behind the girl. It was the same symbolism she saw in all her dreams about Nyssa, and it always came from the one that was enslaved. Whatever it was, it was likely not tied to this specific dream.

As she showered and dressed for school, she dearly hoped that Jason would know what to do with this information. He had to figure out a way to stop Nyssa more directly. She didn't think that simply rescuing people from her was going to be enough.

Melinda's body was trembling as she awoke. She uttered a tiny moan of distress as the last of her dreams broke up into disjointed imagery. Her dreams were nowhere near as clear as Cassie's, and had been anything but pleasant. Jumbled feelings and emotions, echoing across from her subconscious where part of the old Melinda now resided, struggling to reclaim its freedom. Yet it could enjoy -- if that were even apropos -- only the restricted freedom of her dreams.

She drew in a deep breath and let it go as a despondent sigh as she turned over from her back to her side. The sheet pulled partially from her body, revealing one naked breast and her side down to the hip. For a moment, she longed for the way things were, and she longed to have Jason with her.

It was short-lived. These thoughts would not do, and the Darkness reasserted itself quickly. The next moment when she felt a hand slide up her exposed side and gently cup her breast, she moaned, this time in desire.

"Good morning, baby sis," Heather said softly, stroking Melinda's nipple.

"Uhhnn... good morning, Mistress," Melinda said huskily as she squirmed on the bed.

Heather smiled and removed her hand, leaving Melinda panting lightly and her pussy damp. She drew the sheet off Melinda's body. "You like sleeping in the nude now, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, Mistress," Melinda gushed. Pleasure spread like a gentle warmth through her, causing her to smile.

"That's what I want to see, baby sis. I just want to see you happy."

Melinda giggled and nodded.

Heather paused a moment before asking in a more subdued voice, "So you don't really need Jason anymore, do you?"

Melinda hesitated. Some of her smile faded. "N-no, Mistress," she answered, though her voice quavered.

"I had to do that yesterday. You understand, don't you?"

"Yes, Mistress, I understand."

"He was hurting you. I don't want to see you hurt."

Somewhere in Melinda's mind, she protested Heather's words. Jason had not been hurting her. Not intentionally, anyway. He had been trying to rescue her. He cared for her in ways that Heather could not.

It was not strong enough to resist completely. It registered only as a catch in her voice as she dutifully replied, "Yes, Mistress."

Heather slowly smiled and ran her fingers through Melinda's hair. There was a moment of hesitation on her part as well, as if knowing that cutting off Melinda from Jason was somehow wrong. The moment was even more fleeting than Melinda's had been.

She took Melinda's hand and guided her to her feet. "Another school day."

"Can I lick your pussy before we go, Mistress? Please?"

"We don't have time. I'm sorry. But after school, soon as we get home, I promise."

Melinda smiled, looking at Heather with adoration and obedience.

"Now run along and get your shower, baby sis." Heather gave her a loving light slap on her ass as she turned, causing her to yelp and giggle before heading into the bathroom.

As she turned away, Heather felt something in the back of her mind. Something was going to happen that day. She felt like she should know what, but it was a vague sensation at best. It was as if she had gaps in her knowledge. She could barely remember much of what she did with the Harbingers. She even had to think about it a few moments to remember the name.

It didn't matter anymore. She was happy now and she made Melinda happy. Even their own mother had said it. They were safe. No harm would come to them now. Jason was worried over nothing.

At the thought of Jason, she felt a twinge, partially of guilt and partially of fear. It disappeared almost as quickly as it had manifested.

Sandra sighed as she yanked the phone from the hook in the kitchen. "Yeah?"

"I'd like to talk to Richie, please," came a breathless voice on the other end.

Sandra made a face. "Crying out loud. You're gonna see him in school. Why do you have to talk to him now?"

"But I... I have to act normal in school. He told me so. And he told me to call him."

"Mom, I'll take that," Richie said as he walked into the kitchen, grinning.

Sandra let the receiver drop from her ear and stared at her son. "You can't be fucking serious."

Richie said nothing. He simply held his hand out for the phone.

"This is not some fucking phone sex service, you got that?" Sandra sneered as she slapped the receiver into his palm.

"Coulda fooled me by the number of guys you fuck around with that you call on this thing."

"Don't make me slap you around, Richie. I mean it. No more wiseass comments about that."

Sandra opened the door to the kitchen with a violent kick as she stormed out.

Richie shook his head. "What a drama queen," he mumbled before bringing the phone to his ear. "Heya, fuckslut, what's up?"

There was a deep moan from the other end. "I just had to hear your voice again, Master," Linda breathed.

"Hmm, yeah, right. That all you need?"

"Uhhn... n-no..."

"Hey, are you touching your pussy?"

"Mmmm... God... y-yes... you s-said it was okay, Master!"

"That's right. But don't cum, got it?"

"Oh, please, Master! I'm so horny! Let me cum, please!"

"Hmmm..."

Linda was gasping into the phone. "I have to act normal... i-in school... can b-barely think... please..."

Richie was grinning from ear to ear. He loved this. He had total control of her sexuality. She would not cum unless he let her, no matter how much or how long she touched herself. Her pleasure was at his whim, and he could have her give him pleasure at his whim as well. It was awesome. He didn't even have this much control back at the House.

He listened to her desperate moans for another few moments. "Start finger-fucking yourself," he ordered.

"Yes, Master... ohhh... uhhhhn!... uhhh!..."

"Keep at it. Hard as you can. Pound it in."

"Oh God!... Yeah!... Oh yeah!... "

Richie was thrilled. He could actually hear the squeaking of her bed in the background. Yet she could do this all day and never cum. It took his command to do it.

"What do you wish for, fucktoy?"

"Ohhh!... I wish... uhhhn... it was your cock..."

"Yeah, betcha do. That'll hafta wait til this afternoon. Okay, you can cum."

"Thank you!... ohhhh!... ahhhhh!!" Linda screamed into the phone. By the time it was over she was panting and gasping. "Th-thank you, Master. I think that will hold me until later."

Richie smirked. "It better. Don't want to be punished, do you?"

Linda moaned again. "Master... you'll make me horny again... uhhn..."

Richie laughed. He had made her associate punishment with pleasure before he had left her the day before. Not that he intended to be harsh with her, or to actually hurt her. But he found the idea very erotic.

"Okay, you go get your little teacher ass in gear," Richie said. "I'll see ya at the school."

"Yes, Master. Oh, I mean... yes, Mr. Gardner." She giggled and hung up the phone.

Richie replaced the receiver and headed out of the kitchen. He went upstairs to gather his stuff for school. He looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway, glaring at him.

"What?"

"You're sick, you know that?"

Richie snorted. "Yeah, and I'm sure no one plays little games like that with you, huh?"

"It's not a fucking game, Richie! You have control over her. She has to do whatever you say."

"Yeah. Cool, huh?"

"That's not what I mean! Everything you do to her, Richie, she's going to remember."

"So?"

"So if she gets free of your control again..."

Richie laughed. "That ain't gonna happen. What makes you think I wanna release her?"

"Someone may make you release her."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

Sandra did not have an immediate answer for that. She could not explain to him that Haven was fickle. It would happily cause slave and master to swap roles if this suited it.

"And what difference does it make anyway?" Richie retorted.

Sandra shook her head slowly in disbelief. "You can't be that dense. She'll remember everything you made her do. She'll feel embarrassed that she did it. Or humiliated."

Richie paused. He remembered something that Mara had told them about her own past. How she had been held as a sex slave for several years, kept obedient by a drug. When it had worn off, she could remember everything that had happened and how powerless she had been to stop it. It had been a terrible trauma. She had actually wanted to go back under just to avoid the pain of the memory.

He sighed. "Look, I won't do anything nasty to her, okay? I'm not some fucking pervert. I just wanna have a good time."

"The power goes to your head, Richie," Sandra said hollowly. "It always does."

Richie just rolled his eyes as he picked up his backpack. "I gotta go. See ya."

Sandra stepped quickly out of his way as he headed out of his room. She just sighed to herself as she watched him head downstairs and out the door.

She folded her arms and leaned against the door frame. He didn't understand, not like she did. There was always a price to be paid. Whether that price came sooner or later, someday it came. And when it did, she had the feeling that he was going to be in for a rude awakening.

Cassie was the first to meet with Jason in the parking lot that morning. Diane followed, and then Ned. It was a little while longer before Becky warily approached and joined them, looking as if she would rather be somewhere else.

"Thanks for showing up," Jason said to Ned and Becky. "I know all this seems kind of strange to you."

"I just want to know how we're gonna take the bitch down, that's all," Ned said eagerly.

Becky looked askance at this and seemed to want to retreat. "I'm not sure about this anymore, Diane, I..."

"Becky, it's okay, please," Diane said. "It's like what I told you over the phone. You're not going to have to do anything that will get you hurt."

Becky paused, her eyes shimmering. She nodded slowly, though she still appeared unconvinced.

Jason observed this and said reluctantly, "Becky, if you really can't do this, say it now and you can forget about it. We need people that are going to want to do this."

"Diane promised that this would help me get my boyfriend Harold back," Becky said. "Is that true, Jason?"

"Yes, it's true," Diane cut in, feeling embarrassed. She had not expected Becky to bring this up. "Please, just..."

"No, I want to hear it from Jason! You told me he doesn't lie to people or make promises he can't keep! So I want to hear it from him, because that's all I care about."

Diane gave Jason a pleading look.

Jason sighed. He knew what Diane wanted. She wanted him to tell a lie to keep Becky on the team. He just couldn't bring himself to keep someone on false pretenses.

"Becky, I want to see you get back with your boyfriend," he began in as diplomatic a tone as he could muster. "And certainly what we do can help with that. If we can convince him that none of this was your fault, that could help. I can only promise that we will help. I can't promise you an outcome."

There was a long pause as Becky considered this, her eyes filled with uncertainty. "Look if... if I don't help you... it's not that big a deal, right?"

Jason was opening his mouth to respond when Cassie cut in. "Yes, it's a big deal," she said with a vehemence that made Jason and Diane flinch in surprise. "It's a very big deal. We need every person we can get to stop her. We can't afford to lose anyone. We're counting on you, Becky. You told Diane you'd do it. Don't let us down."

Becky stared wide-eyed at the sudden lecture, totally nonplussed. She bit her lip nervously. "I only want things to go back to the way they were," she said in a choked voice. "Like it never happened."

Jason glanced at Cassie for a moment. Cassie gave Jason a meaningful look. Jason mouthed the word "dream" at her with an inquisitive look. Cassie gave a single tiny nod of her head. He nodded back and turned to Becky. "I doubt it will quite be the same again. But we have to stop this from spreading."

"Spreading? Y-you make it sound like a disease or something."

"It's a good analogy, actually."

"A very good one," Cassie said in a low, hollow voice, shivering.

Diane saw this, and her eyes widened. Ned simply glanced between them, looking impatient. "C'mon guys. Are we gonna do something or just talk about it?"

Jason nodded. "Becky, you have to decide. Are you in or out?"

Becky swallowed. "I'm in, I guess..."

"Okay, good. Now, you already know part of it. You get taken to Nyssa and she makes you try to act out a fantasy. She controls you and gives you the ability to control someone else. She's done this to others. Those are the ones with auras. Eventually she calls them back and takes something from them. Or at least that's the current theory..."

"No, she does, definitely," said Cassie. "She takes something from them and uses it to enslave more people. So she can do it faster. Once she has enough she'll be able to enslave people so fast we can't keep up. That's why we have to stop her."

Diane's mouth dropped open in shock and she stared at Jason, but Jason's own eyes were wide in astonishment as well.