Chapter 31

The silvery glow illuminates her face with a pale radiance that is ghostly and eerie. The shadows play on her cheeks and around her eyes, giving her a demonic air. In her hands, she cradles the seeds lovingly. They glitter and sparkle at their core.

Around her, the room is shrouded in darkness. She is alone, yet there is another presence with her.

"These are what I have taken," Nyssa says with a soft, sultry voice. There is also a touch of hunger to it as well, giving her words a tone of menace. "Seeds of desire. Seeds of lust. Seeds of chaos."

She turns slowly. Ethereal light spills from between her fingers. There is something next to her, like a long table. At one end the light appears to glint off something metallic.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes briefly. She lets the breath go as a soft moan, her body shivering. She is pleased. Immensely pleased. The feeling radiates from her, her happiness edging over into erotic

Slowly, Nyssa smiles as she appears to listen to a far-off voice that cannot be heard by normal means. "I have been good... I will be better... and you will receive more from me... you... uhhn..."

Nyssa pants lightly, bending slightly at the waist. She lifts her head and moans. Her thighs quake. Pleasurable reward suffuses her.

"Not too fast..." she whispers. She shudders and moans more loudly. What she feels when the energy flows to it, when it feeds, is beyond mere words. It is the essence of bliss, a sweet surrender to delight that, were she a weak-minded mortal, she would happily surrender to until she was drained of everything.

Instead, she controls herself. She does not let it draw too much strength from the energies she has gathered. She gently curtails it. It does not grow angry with her. It's a game, a game of control and domination. The balance of power is maintained between them for the time being.

Yet the pleasure she feels from it continues, soft and sweet, a gentle arousal...

Cassie's eye flickered open. She had to resist the urge to reach between her legs and touch the damp ache that had manifested in her sex.

She swallowed and closed her legs, biting her lip rather than moaning at the pressure against her swollen pussy. She closed her eyes again and took slow, deep breaths until she had calmed herself. She refused to let herself get off on any dream like this, not one where her arousal was because of Nyssa.

When it had abated enough for her to move without difficulty, she got out of bed and gathered her thoughts.

She now had to ask herself: what did she just learn from this dream? She had no choice but to practice this snap analysis on them, instead of savoring the vivid imagery and letting her mind free-associate over the next few days. She hated having to change the way she did things.

Cassie mulled over it as she took a shower. She still had some moisture from her arousal lingering on her thighs. It made her feel tainted and dirty.

As she let the water play over her body, she could see the obvious. Nyssa had the "seeds" from the others that she had extracted. Where was she standing? It must have been the examination room. Cassie didn't think it could be anywhere else.

But what about that bit about energies and feeding? Was she referring to the Darkness? Was she "feeding" it somehow?

Cassie shuddered violently. It was too frightening a concept to conceive. Unfortunately, it made her previous dreams make more sense now. She would have to tell Jason.

As she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a large towel about herself, she realized there was one good thing. She had not recalled any dream involving Jason. No scheming to take him, or otherwise do something to stop him. Perhaps he was safe after all, and they were all jumping at shadows with regards to that.

Surely, she reasoned, she would have dreamed about something as important as that.

Jason began to feel uneasy on the bus ride to school.

Admittedly, he had been on edge all morning. He was worried about Thursday and Friday, when the new Harbinger team would be put to the test. He still kept sensing hesitation in Becky, and impatience in Ned. Both were bad for different reasons.

Heather and Melinda sat across from him on the bus, if for no other reason than those were the only empty seats. The other students were still letting them stay together on the bus even though it seemed they ceased being friends.

Normally when this happened, Jason kept making furtive glances almost exclusively to Melinda, looking for some sign that she might be resisting somehow. While he still did this now, his gaze was increasingly drawn to Heather. Or more specifically, to her aura.

... remain submissive and obedient... do not resist... obey your Mistress... do as she commands you... do not hesitate...

It was different today. While the continued whispers of submission were the same, they had a tone of greater urgency. He felt as if the Darkness were worried. It sounded bizarre to him. How could it feel anything, let alone that? Surely that was his own emotion being projected onto it.

He had had a similar experience when Richie had boarded the bus, but their contact had been so fleeting that Jason had dismissed it as his imagination. Now he was not so sure anymore. Yet Melinda seemed no different. Her aura appeared to whisper nothing new.

Things didn't seem to be looking up at all once he got to school and met the others in the parking lot.

"Man, this fuckin' stinks!" Ned complained. "We haven't done squat yet!"

Jason sighed and tried to remain patient. "Ned, I explained this to you. We have to wait until Nyssa starts taking students again, then we can proceed like I explained."

"Look, dude, why can't we just all go running in there and take her on!"

"What, and get enslaved to her again?" Becky asked, aghast.

"Aw, you heard what he said before, Becks. Once she loses ya, ya can't get taken again, right?"

"Well, we think so," Jason said. "We can't be one hundred percent sure."

Becky sneered at Ned. "See? And don't call me 'Becks, ' I hate that!"

"And I haven't been taken yet," Diane said with a small shiver. "She can still do something to me."

"And me as well," Jason added in a weaker voice, feeling a twinge of anxiety.

Ned looked thoughtful for a moment. "She can't hypnotize all of us at once you know."

"And how do you know that, Ned?" Cassie asked hotly. "Come on, you went through the same thing I did. You know how powerful she is."

Ned sighed and shook his head. "I barely remember most of it, actually," he muttered.

Cassie caught herself before she retorted to that. She sometimes forgot that she understood things better because of her dreams. It was hard to remember that other people's dreams were not like hers. "Well, um, in any case, we shouldn't risk that until we know more."

"Look, let me settle this once and for all, okay?" Jason said, his impatience showing in his voice. "I never gave you guys the details on how I got this ability to see auras in the first place, right? Well, I won't go into the whole story now, but I will say that it was a gift from someone that wanted us to use it against the Darkness. And what she told us was that we don't go directly against the agents of the Darkness. We focus on helping people escape it instead. Or would you rather we have attacked her directly and wound up enslaved to her and not be around to help you, Ned, or you, Becky, get out from under her?"

Ned stared at Jason for a moment. He made a face, but then heaved a long sigh. "All right, fine," he grumped.

"Please, listen to him," Diane pleaded. "He knows what he's talking about."

Becky bit at her lip, looking pale and scared.

"Are you all right, Becky?" asked Cassie.

She paused a long moment and then shook her head. "No, I'm not all right. I haven't been all right this whole week! I don't even know what I'm doing..."

"You're helping us. Or I thought you were," Jason said a bit more sharply than he had intended.

Becky frowned at him. "It's not easy, okay? I'm... I-I'm frightened."

"Aw, about what?" Ned whined, rolling his eyes.

"You heard Jason yourself! He's not sure whether she'll go after us again or not!"

"So we just sit around and do nothing?" Jason asked.

"I didn't say that!"

"Well, that's what you implied."

Becky gave him an indignant look. "Don't put words into my mouth!"

Jason bit off a further retort when he realized he was baiting her. He took a moment to compose himself. "I'm sorry, Becky. Guess I'm a little on edge myself this morning. Just do the best you can. That's all I want from everyone."

"But nothing today, huh?" Ned asked in disappointment.

"I still want you to keep doing the rotation I set up. Keep an eye on Nyssa's office. Just in case she decides to break the routine. It will be good practice for tomorrow."

The gathering broke up quickly after that. Cassie lingered and pulled Jason aside.

"What is it?" Jason asked.

"You wanted me to volunteer information more about my dreams. Well, I had a doozy last night..."

Jason listened to the explanation, his eyebrows rising. "She's feeding it?"

"So that's the impression you're getting as well?"

"Yes. And it makes sense. And it means we really could be doing some harm to her."

Cassie nodded. "The fewer students she takes, the less energy she has to give the Darkness." She made a face and shivered. "It sounds kind of disgusting. It's like she's draining them like... l-like some kind of vampire..."

"No, probably not. Not in the strict sense anyway. More likely she's feeding off something else, like sexual energy, or their free will, or some combination. But the point is, it sounds almost like she's going to get in trouble if she doesn't keep it well-fed."

Cassie shuddered again at the imagery it conjured up. "Maybe we better not talk about it like that anymore."

"It's fine, Cassie. But it does mean we have to stop as many as we can from falling to her."

Cassie managed a small smile. At least he was referring to them as "we" again.

"By the way, why did you wait until now instead of telling me during our meeting?"

"I'm not sure how the others would react to me. Becky especially. She... she used to call me names to the other girls."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Cassie shrugged, trying to look indifferent about it. "It's okay. I'm better about it now. Kind of."

"It's okay. I won't force you to talk about your dreams in front of the others."

Cassie smiled weakly. "Thanks. I just hope I can get more comfortable with them soon."

"Yeah, I know. And I hope they can work together as a team. We're going to need all the help we can get."

Laura glanced down at her desk. A slow smile came to her lips.

"Marcie."

Marcie appeared two seconds later at the door. "Yes, Miss Bendon?"

Laura gestured towards the top of her desk. In the center was a large mug of steaming hot coffee and a French roll. "Did you bring this for me?"

"Yes, Miss Bendon, I did," Marcie said in a slightly husky voice.

Laura sat down at her desk and picked up the mug. It had the barest hint of brown coloration to it. In less light it would have looked black. She gave it a sniff and raise an eyebrow. She looked up in surprise.

"Double-mocha with just half a teaspoon of cream, exactly as you like it," Marcie said. She squirmed a bit where she stood.

"And the roll?"

"From that little bake shop three blocks over behind the mini-mall." She paused a moment. "That's your favorite one, isn't it?"

"Why, yes, it is."

Marcie smiled. She let her breath go as a soft sigh as she shifted her legs, feeling her thighs rub together and sending a little thrill of pleasure through her sex. "So... you like it?" she asked with a hint of urgency in her voice. "Did I do okay, Miss Bendon?"

"You did fabulous, Marcie."

"Mmm, thank you, Miss Bendon," Marcie said in a sweetly sultry voice. Heat gathered in her pussy.

"You didn't have to, you know."

"Oh, but... but I did."

Laura paused to take a sip of her coffee, keeping her eyes fixed on Marcie. "Did you now?"

"I... I like doing things for you, Miss Bendon."

"Well, I can understand that, Marcie. Certainly you find the tasks you do around here... pleasurable, don't you?"

Marcie uttered a tiny moan. Her thighs trembled as her pussy grew damp. "Mmm, yes, Miss Bendon... very pleasurable..."

"So... you find doing these extra things for me pleasurable as well?"

Marcie's nipples hardened. "Mmm, yes... very much so, Miss Bendon."

"Well, Marcie, you've reached a new level in your job here, it would seem."

"Oh?"

"You're not just a receptionist for me, Marcie. You're a good receptionist." Laura paused a moment. "You're my good girl."

Marcie giggled at this. "Thank you, Miss Bendon!" she gushed. Her breath grew short. "I really try..."

"Oh, I have no doubt that you do. In fact, I think a reward will be in order soon."

Marcie looked excited. "Another reward?"

"Yes. Not until the weekend, though. Keep being my good girl for the week and then we'll see."

"Mmm, yes, Miss Bendon. I'll keep being your good girl!" Marcie said, her voice growing more husky and strained.

"In that case, I believe you should return to work. You need to get those files for me straightened out."

"Oh, yes, Miss Bendon, I'll get right on that!"

"It will please me very much that you do."

Marcie shuddered. She uttered another small moan as her pussy suddenly throbbed in a gentle orgasm. It did not last long, but it made her feel a moment's worth of confusion. She looked at Laura, wondering what had just happened to her.

"Back to work with you now," Laura said.

Marcie blinked and then slowly smiled. "Um, yes, of course, Miss Bendon, I'll... get right to work."

At the thought of this, the light pleasure of arousal returned to her again, easing the doubts she had been about to express. She was again eager to go about her tasks.

Laura smiled. "See you later, Marcie."

"Mmmm... yes, Miss Bendon..."

Jason had spotted the note on the teacher's desk when he first walked into the classroom, but it did not really register with him. It had the letterhead of the school at the top, and he had assumed that there was going to be some announcement at the start of class. Principal Bendon was known for despising the aging PA system, so she often disseminated notices in this manner.

The teacher picked up the note only after most of the class had settled down. It was apparent she had not even looked at it yet, and now an eyebrow rose.

"Jason Conner."

Jason was so surprised to hear his name that it took him a moment to look up.

"Report to the nurse's station immediately, please."

For the next few seconds, Jason just stared. He shivered, as if a chill breeze had wafted over him. Yet as shocked as he was, he was also surprised as to how calm he was about it.

"Jason?"

"Um, yes, Ms. Powers," Jason said, grabbing his book and stuffing it into his backpack.

The teacher afforded him a small smile as he stood up from his desk. "At least with you I have no doubts you'll make up the work."

"Uh, yes, Ms. Powers, thank you," Jason said absently as he headed out.

He closed the door to the classroom behind him and paused a moment, leaning heavily against the lockers and taking several deep breaths. Only now did his heart start to hammer in his chest, the first tendrils of fear twining around his spine.

He was no less convinced now as before. There was no way he would submit to her voluntarily. He would not come any closer to Nyssa's office than his own locker.

He moved quickly. He had no idea how long it would be before Nyssa realized that he was not coming. Up until now she had never left that office. He hoped it was because she had somehow anchored herself there, or that it was the only place she could connect to the Darkness of Haven. It was never tested so he didn't know for sure.

Jason took only those things that were his. He left all his books in the locker. There was no sense in taking those since he was sure he was not coming back. It would also keep his burden light, just in case he was forced to run.

By the time he closed his locker, his heart was thudding in his ears and causing an ache in his chest. He had never felt this scared in his entire life. He glanced down the hallway to the west wing and swallowed. He could almost feel a palpable pull that wanted to draw him into Nyssa's presence.

He swiftly turned his back on it and headed quickly for the main entrance. He had to force himself not to run. He didn't want to alert anyone on the faculty that he was leaving

Jason wasn't even sure where he would go. Home? That would be the first place they would come looking for him. Or his own Dad would bring him back. After all, he was in league with the Darkness as well.

Jason felt his throat trying to close up at the thought of his own father betraying him like that. It was not so much the thought itself as the fact that he believed his own father to be capable of doing just that.

As Jason passed the last of the classrooms, he couldn't help but break into a run as he spotted the east entrance up ahead, just past the intersection with another hallway. Whatever influence Nyssa may have had on him trying to get him to come to her had vanished when he saw freedom so close at hand.

His mind raced almost as fast as his heart. Maybe he could still keep in touch with the others, even if he decided to leave Haven. He still had his phreaking skills. The switch that serviced Haven was still old enough he could hack his way to a free long distance call or two. He...

Jason looked up and came to a sudden stop, his feet sliding across the polished floor as he watched the figure emerge from the hallway off to the side.

For a long moment, Jason and Richie stared at each other. Finally, Jason could no longer stand the silence. "Um... hi."

"Yo," Richie drawled, his hands thrust into his pockets. "Leavin' early today, huh?"

Jason's face hardened. "Yeah. And you probably know why, don't you?"

Richie just shrugged and said nothing.

Jason paused a moment, then tried to advance, making it obvious that he intended to go around Richie. Richie just watched him, not seeming to care, until Jason was just about to pass him. At that point, Richie backed up and quickly positioned himself in front of Jason.

Richie grinned. "Jason bein' truant? Huh, that's a new one for the record books, ain't it?"

Jason decided he was not going to dance around the matter. "Are you going to stop me, Richie?"

Richie snickered. "You want me to?"

"Stop playing games."

"Nah, man, I stopped playing games ever since I got that hot little number for myself, you know?"