Chapter 55: The Dark Truth

Human literature is full of stories and tales dealing with the loss of innocence. There are many themes, many variations; the first loss of a loved one, the first betrayal of trust, the first heartbreak. Some are truly acts of evil; rape, murder, the senseless violence that mankind has forever heaped upon its fellows. Not all are dark and tragic; many speak of the first sexual act, the loss of virginity to a true love, leaving home for the first time. I thought mine had been one of these simple fairytale events when I first truly met and fell in love with Allison. The dream continued when as I discovered the depths of my feelings for Shannon as well. And the unbelievable satisfaction and warmth that came from knowing that they shared my feelings.

Now I knew what a loss of innocence truly was. Seeing Diane McKenzie raped and tortured had been a horrific experience. To see a young life abused and snuffed out by a sadistic madman was pain beyond my experience. The veil of truth had been torn aside and the cruelty of the world exposed before my young and unprepared senses. I will always remember that day. Well, most of it. I still don't know what happened while I was running.

As bad as that had been it was but a shadow of what I had seen in the last three weeks. It's a good thing that Shannon had suggested, and Allison agreed, that one of them should always accompany me on my visits to Samantha Watkins. What had originally been a simple idea of finding a way to convince her to come forward with what information she had regarding the death of her sister had turned into a nightmare.

The rape and torture of Diane McKenzie had lasted twenty days; just under three weeks. Maria Pena had been missing almost a month. Twenty-nine days to be exact; over a month if it had been February instead of June. Amanda Watkins had been missing for only a week before being found dead in a Las Vegas motel room. We had assumed that this had been a blessing. That she had not been subjected to the kinds of abuse and mistreatment the other girls had endured. We were half right. Amanda had died quickly at the hands of her kidnapper, but her rape and torture had lasted eleven years. It's no wonder she didn't fight. There was nothing left to fight for. It probably never occurred to her to try. She was broken. Resistance had been systematically worked out of her conscious options. Worked, coerced, beaten, trained; it didn't matter what word you used, it didn't matter that pain was not always employed, sometimes but not always, it was still torture. Her sister Samantha, now sixteen, had a little over two years to go before she broke her sister's record. Not at the hands of a madman like the one that killed her sister. No. This was much worse.

Amanda before, and Samantha still, had suffered at the hands of someone far more evil than our mystery killer would ever be, for their suffering had come at the hands of their father. The one man on earth that they should have been able to count on above all others to protect them. The man into whose care God had placed their little lives. The man I wanted most to kill every time I thought of what he had done; what he was still doing.

It had now been three weeks since my first visit to Samantha Watkins' dreams. Maybe I picked a good night; maybe I somehow influenced how I would see her first. Looking back I think that is most likely the case. We know through experimentation that distance is not a really big factor. In setting up my, actually our, first visit I had met Shannon in the glade with Allison.

"Okay," Allison began. "I think for the first visit you should just keep it short. We don't know how much impact the distance will have. Or if staying too long will influence things in ways we haven't thought of. So just a short visit, okay?"

Shannon and I nodded agreement and she continued, "Okay, Jimmy, you go first, make contact, be sure everything feels okay. I don't know what 'okay' will really feel like since this is the first time you've ever tried this, but if anything feels wrong just get out. And make sure you're going to her, and not actually bringing her into a dream of yours. Check your ring. Experiment a little, very carefully, of course, to make sure that you are 100% in observer mode. Once you are sure, bring Shannon over. Make sure you are somewhere that Samantha won't notice anything if it goes wrong, somewhere where she can't see you. In the closet, down the hall, behind a bush, wherever, just so she can't see it. The last thing you would want to do is materialize Shannon in the middle of one of the poor girl's dreams. Confirm that Shannon is invisible and then just stay a few minutes and get comfortable. It doesn't even matter if you see anything. For now you just want to make sure everything is working. Whatever you do..."

"Okay," I cut her off. "I get it. I'll be careful. Geez, Mom, I'll look both ways before I cross the street."

Shannon hid a giggle and Allison tried but couldn't suppress the grin.

"I'm going to tell her you said that."

"Not if you want to come with me next time you won't."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't even think about it, mister. I know where you sleep, alone. And unless you want it to stay that way..."

"Alright you two!" Shannon interrupted. "Kiss and make up right now or I'm leaving. Come on, we haven't got all night you know. Let's go."

Allison muttered, "He started it."

"Shut up and kiss him, now."

Allison leaned in and gave me a peck then leaned back.

"Nice try. What is he, your dead grandpa? I said kiss him. Let's see a little tongue in there. What, do you need remedial training? Jimmy, don't just sit there, suck a little face here, this is the woman you love and you need to do a little making up here. Come on; let's see you make her panties wet. Show her you care."

It was all I could do to keep a straight face. Allison was actually blushing. I just shook my head and froze Shannon where she sat. I left everything else working but she couldn't move or speak. I then proceeded to do exactly as she had suggested and more. Allison's panties got wet all right, then they came off, along with mine. An un-determined amount of time later I released Shannon. She just shuddered all over.

"That was so not fair. Here I'm trying to get you two to stop acting like three year olds and now I'm the one frustrated. Do you have any idea how badly I wanted to touch myself? Do you?" She shuddered again. "Well, I wanted to touch both of you more. That should be listed as cruel and unusual punishment to make someone sit and watch that with no hope for relief. You guys owe me big time. But right now we have work to do. Jimmy, off you go; take your time getting settled and ready and let me know before you bring me over, I'm going to be busy collecting your sister's part of that debt. Kiss me."

I kissed her and left.

I didn't really have anything planned. I had pictured myself watching Samantha in a variety of peaceful settings; watching her sleep, maybe watching her at school, in a park, that sort of thing. While I didn't have any real expectations, looking back I think I must have influenced her even then.

She was younger, counting backward she must have been about ten. Sitting on the floor watching her big sister change baby Rachel's diaper. That put Amanda at maybe thirteen tops. Rachel was a cute little bundle of giggles; laughing and smiling as her big sister tickled and played with her. As much fun as it was to watch, I had work to do.

I thought for a second and in my mind a bell rang in the glade. I waited a few seconds and brought Shannon into the scene with me. I knew she was invisible as soon as I saw her. I could pretty much see the room through her.

"So I'm invisible, cool," she said. "And they can't hear me either?"

"If they could I'm sure they would have reacted when you spoke. Walk around a bit, touch things, see if they notice anything."

Shannon moved around the room, touching things as she went. A lamp, a magazine on the table, and finally she stroked her hand over Samantha's hair. The girls gave no sign that they were aware of her. She reached past Amanda and tickled the baby. The baby giggled, but then she'd been giggling since I arrived so I don't think it had anything to with Shannon.

Finally, she stood back and shouted, "Hey!" from about two feet in front of the two girls. There was still no reaction. Not surprising when you think of it. This was obviously a memory after all. We'd need to be just as careful when we went into an active dream. Something new and "live" may be different. As Allison had suggested we kept it short.

The second night I took Allison with me. No preparation, just the two of us popping in to see what we could see. What we could see was horrible. Not like torture and killing horrible, but somehow this felt almost as bad.

Samantha was on her knees in the living room floor, completely naked, as if she were waiting for something. She was older now, no longer the young girl watching her sister; this was the girl from Rebecca's interview. That put her at sixteen. She was a very pretty girl. Blonde hair like her sister, I guessed her somewhere close to my height, trim athletic figure, breasts somewhere between Shannon and Angela, not large, but proportioned to her body with large areolas of a dark brownish pink. Even though she was kneeling with her feet under her you could see enough to know she was in fact a natural blonde.

A few feet away, behind and to the side, six year old Rachel sat in her mother's lap. The door opened and what the young girl was waiting for became apparent. Frank Watkins walked through the door like any businessman coming home from work. He set his briefcase on the floor, hung his light jacket in the small coat closet, straightened his tie and proceeded into the living room. He walked past Samantha like she wasn't even there. Kissed his wife and swung his youngest daughter up in the air like a rag doll. He kissed her, tickled her, and then set her back in her mother's lap. Then he went to stand in front of Samantha.

"What of you? Are you happy to see me as well?"

"Yes, my Lord," She said with a smile. It was a nice smile, a smile that said all the right things, as long as you didn't look at her eyes, as pretty as the smile was, as happy as the voice sounded, neither reached her eyes.

"How was school?"

"Satisfactory, my Lord, I received good marks on my two exams and am advancing in all subjects."

"And your other assignment?"

The smile faded some as she answered, "I observed her making no unauthorized contacts today, my Lord."

"You are sure?"

"Only during the times that I am assigned, my Lord, I cannot speak beyond those periods. I know not what others may have observed."

"And yourself? Did you speak to anyone outside your permitted circle?"

Fear flashed across her face but she quickly regained her composure "No, my Lord!" she declared emphatically. It was then that I realized that her position was such that only from our vantage point could you see the panic in her eyes. The whole scene was contrived so that Rachel could see only her sister, happily humbling herself before her Lord. A cold chill crawled down my spine. For his part, he knew she was scared. The smile on his face reached not just his eyes, but all the way to his soul.

"You were seen conversing with a young man."

"My Lord, his name is Joshua, he sought to invite me to the dance this Friday."

"And?"

"My Lord, I politely declined and removed myself from the conversation as quickly as I felt possible without attracting undue attention."

"This is the first time he has asked?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"Do you believe that he will ask again?"

"My Lord, I do not know, but he seemed as if he wished to persist."

"Very well, we will discuss it further if he asks again. You may please me now."

"Thank you, my Lord." The voice was perfect. If you couldn't see her face you would think that there was nothing more important to her in life than pleasing the man in from of her.

Rising slightly on her knees she unzipped his pants, very carefully pulled his cock and balls out, and began to service him. Over on the chair with her mother Rachel watched as her sister expressed her joy at her "Lord's" return.

Despite Frank's ample endowment, within just a few moments she was taking all of him down her throat smoothly and evenly with no signs of hesitation or discomfort. It was obvious she had been doing this for a long time. At one point, just as she reached the base he simply said, "Hold," and she held, and held. Unable to breathe her distress quickly became evident yet she made no effort to withdraw. As her eyes began to glaze and lose focus he said, "Resume," and with only a momentary hesitation she resumed as if nothing had happened. I think the hesitation must have been a pause while her oxygen deprived brain processed the word. She took deeper, almost gasping breaths through her nose but otherwise showed no signs that anything had happened.

Eventually he reached his climax. Apparently she knew his rhythm well enough to gage the timing. One moment he was down her throat, the next she had pulled clear and he was spewing his seed all over her face. White fluid splashed on cheeks, lips, and nose before oozing down the front of her body. As the flow diminished she once again took him into her mouth and began to milk his cock of any remaining fluid. She licked all around him until she was sure he was as clean as possible, then very carefully tucked him back into his pants, and then returned to her kneeling position.

She finished and sat once more with downcast eyes. If not for the streaks of pale white fluid covering her face and torso you would not be able to tell that anything had happened.

"You have done well. Now, clean yourself and help your mother with dinner."

"Thank you, my Lord."

With that, she very carefully stood and left the room, never raising her eyes as she did so.

Allison and I followed her to the bathroom where she quickly locked the door, turned on the water in the sink, and broke into tears. The sound of the water covered the sobbing as she washed her face and chest. As quickly as they came the tears vanished. She dried herself, went to her room, dressed, and then hurried to help her mother with dinner.

Allison and I could only look at each other in shock when we returned to the glade. Shannon was waiting and immediately knew that something was wrong. I can't speak for Allison, but, for me, shock turned to rage almost immediately. I don't know if I have ever been so angry in my life.

My feelings were reflected in my surroundings. The bright sunshine dimmed and the always clear sky looked somewhat hazy. A bit of chill crept over my skin.

Shannon looked at me in amazement for a second, then without a word swept into my arms. She hugged me to her and kissed my neck, "Jimmy? Are you okay?"

All of this had broken Allison out of whatever shell she was in and she wrapped her arms around me from behind, "No," she said. "He's not okay. It's bad Sha, really bad. This is going to be a lot harder than we thought."

I could feel the rage slowly flowing out of me. The sky cleared and the sun shown brightly once again. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't let myself. I turned slowly within the circle of their arms until I could put an arm around each of them. I kissed them each on the forehead and said, "I'm glad I had you with me. Don't ever let me go there alone. I don't know what I would do."

Allison just grunted, "Hhmf, I know what you'd do, and it wouldn't be pretty."

"Yeah, well we certainly can't stop you from going without us, Jimmy. It's up to you make sure one of us, or both of us, is with you," Shannon added.

"She's right. What now?"

"Now," I answered, "we get the experts involved." I raised my voice, "Rebecca!"

A disembodied voice answered, "Jimmy?"

"Sorry, my hands are full and I didn't feel like digging out my phone. We need to talk."

"Give me a second. You don't sound good, Jimmy; what happened?"

"I'd rather tell you in person. Let's just say our problems just got bigger."

"Shit, like they weren't big enough already. I need a door here, Mr. Wizard; I can't just walk around wherever I want like some people."

"Be careful what you wish for, Agent Hampton," Allison said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rebecca asked as she walked out of the changing tent.

"I think it means you've got enough problems already," Shannon answered. "You may have noticed that Jimmy's gift didn't come with a free pass to Candyland."

Rebecca looked at the three of us for a second and said, "I'm not going to like this am I?"

She didn't. Shannon didn't either but she was still in shock when Rebecca made her feelings known.

"Where do these fucking people come from?" Rebecca demanded as she stalked around the cabana. I had replaced the furnishings with something a little more appropriate. A rattan version of Bob's office now occupied most of the space. A clear cover kept anyone from accidentally stepping into the sunken area.

"Let me get this straight. Frank Watkins is using his daughter as his personal sex slave while his wife and his other daughter watch? In addition to that he is not only having her watched at school, but also having her watch other girls as well?"

I nodded.

"Son of a bitch! This is just what I need. I'm bordering on jurisdictional infringement as it is with the murder cases. Now I've got this shit on top of it. Do you realize what this suggests."

I don't think she was actually expecting an answer but Allison gave her one anyway, "I think so. It suggests that there is a group of men, or men and women, using their kids as sex toys. No names were mentioned so we don't even know if Samantha knows the girl she was watching. She may or may not know whoever was watching her, but it doesn't matter because we don't know who that is. Whoever it is managed to get a report to her father before he came home. The look on her face when he brought it up shows that she was very worried about what he had been told."

"Very good, perfect, on the money, you got it first try. Now, do you also have a clear understanding of why I can't do a damn thing about it?" Rebecca asked.

"What do you mean you can't do anything?" Shannon demanded. "He's molesting his daughter, in front of a little girl. I can only assume he was doing it to Amanda before she died as well. Put that all together and you have to assume that he has every intention of doing it to Rachel as well."

"It's not an FBI issue," I answered for her. Allison and Shannon both turned to me as I continued, "It's a case for the local police. Rebecca can't get involved unless she can show cause. As it stands, she can't even tell them what is happening, much less justify getting involved. Even if she convinced them to start an investigation she can't be involved. It's not a federal case. Right?"

"Yes, dammit!" She kicked the couch for emphasis, good thing it was only wicker and she had shoes on. "There is not a god damned thing I can do about it. Allison, I apologize for my attitude when you said, 'Be careful what you wish for.' Jimmy, I don't know how you stay sane. I haven't even seen it and I'm already frustrated and pissed off. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for you, I'm sorry I asked you to bridge her. Do you want to quit? I need the information on her sister, but I already know the truth, and I'll find a way to work this without it if I have to."

"No!" There was a slight echo as the three of us all answered together.