Chapter 20

Cassie's eyes flickered open.

I was dreaming about Jason, she thought after a moment.

She rose from bed, her bare feet padding silently against the plush carpet. She sighed and shook her head. That was so typical of him, to take a spill like that and not tell anyone. It looked like it had really hurt. He was lucky he hadn't broken anything.

It was not unusual for her to dream about her friends. In fact, it happened with a regularity that allowed her to know much more about her peers than she felt she ought. For a long time she had not known that these visions were real. Ever since she did, she felt some guilt over this voyeurism, even though she had little control over it. Waking up wet and wanting from a peek into someone's sex life was a common occurrence.

It at least helped her understand why people had thought she was not just dreamy but a little creepy as well. She would spout the things that she had seen to anyone that would listen, not knowing that they were real. Now she kept them to herself, though most others continued to avoid her.

Cassie frowned. She had little to look forward to on a Sunday. Her parents would drag her to social functions all morning and into the afternoon. She resolved to call Ned soon as she had the chance and meet with him later. After dealing with her parents and their stuffy friends, she was going to need something a lot more down-to-earth to compensate.

But as she showered and dressed, she realized that something was bothering her far more than her social calendar.

Something about those dreams disturbed her. She often saw aspects of people's lives that were best left unseen, but her visions of Jason had been fairly innocuous. What was it that bothered her? The book? She had her reservations about it, but her dreams would not seek to remind her of something she already knew.

Or was it the eye...

Cassie paused. Once again, she felt on the edge of discovery. But once more, it seemed to slip away from her. Yet this time it left her with a lingering sense of foreboding. It was like staring at a picture she knew was slightly off, but unable to pick out the exact element that skewed her perception.

She shook her head and hoped the day would go by quickly.

Melinda burst into her bedroom in a huff and tried to slam the door behind her as hard as she could. She knew full well that Heather was on her heels, and there was a loud thud as the door hit Heather's raised palms instead.

"I said I was sorry, Melinda," Heather said as she stepped inside.

"Yeah, you're always sooo sorry after the fact!" Melinda retorted shrilly. "Guess that's supposed to make it all better, huh?"

"I honestly don't know what came over me!"

Melinda whirled around, the bottom hem of her Sunday morning dress twirling about her calves. "Heather, you made me get wet while I was sitting in church!"

Heather sighed and sat down heavily on the edge of her bed. One corner of her mouth twitched upwards. "It was kind of funny watching you squirm like that."

Melinda fumed. "Yeah, you would've thought it fucking hilarious if I started playing with myself next! You stupid bubblehead! I thought maybe that spell from yesterday had come back. You scared the hell out of me!"

Some of the amusement left Heather's face. "Well, I didn't mean for you to think that. I guess I just wanted to have a little fun with you."

"I thought you stopped pulling shit like that on me."

"I did! I mean ... I'm trying to."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "You are so lucky that I managed to convince Mom I wasn't feeling well so she didn't make me sit through her stupid little tea party. I couldn't stand doing that in damp panties. But you'd probably think it was funny to make me horny there, too, huh?"

A smile automatically came to Heather's face at the image it conjured in her mind, but she killed it quickly. Not fast enough, however, to escape Melinda's notice.

"You bitch! You were going to do that!"

"Melinda, I'm not sure why I thought that was funny just now..."

"Yeah, right!"

Heather actually did think it was funny. She just hadn't meant to admit it. And she had actually entertained the thought of playing such a prank on Melinda. She cracked a smile again.

Melinda shot Heather a furious look. "Heather, go find something to do somewhere else, okay?"

"What? You want me to leave?"

"Yes, Miss Bubblehead, I want you to leave. Sorry I used words that were too long for you to understand."

"Why do you want me to leave?"

"Because I want to take off these clothes and I don't want you watching me."

Heather made a face. "You're afraid of being naked in front of me now?"

"You have to ask me that after what you pulled earlier?"

"I said I was sorry. Now stop acting like a baby."

"Fuck you, Heather. Now get out."

Heather didn't move. She just looked at her little sister.

"You hard of hearing now, too?" Melinda retorted.

"I'm not leaving. Go do what you need to do."

Melinda clenched her hands into fists and glared at Heather. She gritted her teeth and started to unbutton her blouse. "Fine."

Heather watched the buttons become undone, exposing more of Melinda's lacy bra underneath. Her lips curled into a small smile. As the blouse slipped off her sister's shoulders, the nipples became visible as two small raised points on the cups of the bra.

Melinda dropped her blouse to the bed and shot two blazing eyes at Heather. "Stop it!"

"Stop what, runt?"

"You're doing it to me again."

"I am? Maybe you just get off on getting naked in front of me."

"I do not! Only when you ... wh-when..." Melinda trailed off and swallowed.

"Keep going, Melinda," Heather said in a sultry voice. "Keep stripping."

Melinda tried to protest, but it died in her throat. She undid her skirt and let it drop to a crumpled heap around her feet. Her nipples stood out prominently, and her panties clung to her wet slit.

"See? You like it when I watch you undress."

"Heather, stop it, please," Melinda begged. "This isn't funny."

"Strip, Melinda."

Melinda shuddered. Her hands trembled when she reached for her bra straps. "You said you wouldn't do this to me."

Heather's smile faltered. "I said ... um..."

Melinda slipped the straps from her shoulders and unhooked it in the back. The cups fell away. She shivered as a new wave of heat came over her, her arousal spiking.

Heather's eyes widened as if in some sudden or shocking insight. She abruptly stood up and turned away.

Melinda was about to remove her panties when she stopped. The flames of desire began to wane slowly, at least enough for her to resist obeying Heather's last order.

"I'm sorry, Melinda," Heather said softly. "I got carried away."

Melinda glared at Heather's back, but it was robbed of some of its intensity by her remaining arousal. "What the hell is with you, Heather? You've been acting really weird since Friday."

"I know, Melinda. It's like I'm having trouble controlling my own impulses."

Melinda peered intently at her sister. "You don't have it. Not when I look at you directly."

Heather turned around. "What do you mean, not when you look directly? I thought you weren't seeing anything at all on me anymore, not since Friday afternoon."

"Well, it's weird. Sometimes it's like I think I see something out of the corner of my eye. Then I look directly at you and it disappears."

"Are you sure about that, Melinda?"

"I know what you're going to do. You're going to say Melissa did something to you and it's not your fault. Nice try, but I'm not buying that!"

It took some willpower on Heather's part not to make Melinda so horny that she could barely stand, let alone speak. She briefly conjured up the image in her mind of Melinda crawling across the floor to Heather's waiting pussy. She quelled it, but not before it sent a small tingle of desire through her sex and made heat flare in Melinda's pussy.

"See, you're just doing it to me again!" Melinda piped.

"Why is getting horny so bad?" Heather retorted.

"Because I want to go see Jason today. Unless you're going to go back on that promise too and take him from me!"

That made Heather finally take a mental step back from what she was doing. "No, Melinda, I don't want him," she said firmly, enough to overcome whatever other thoughts on the subject may be lurking in the dark recesses of her mind. "All right, I'll go. I want to spend some time with Diane anyway."

"Why don't you go screw around with her instead? She's got the hots for you anyway."

Heather's skin flushed at the thought. Diane was practically throwing herself at Heather's feet anyway. For a moment, she entertained the metaphor as reality in her head. The heat on her skin spread to her pussy.

Stop it, she chided herself. You can't just dominate her like that, no matter how enjoyable it...

"I'll see you later, Melinda," Heather said hastily before heading out of the room.

Richie rushed out of the garage ahead of his mother.

"Hey ... Hey!"

Richie stopped in the hall and whirled around. "Yeah?"

Sandra paused to hit the garage door button. She stepped into the house with the door still rumbling down. "Did you even hear me in the car just now?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You hafta go out. Fine."

"I'll be back for dinner, so you make sure your butt is here."

Richie shrugged. "Whatever." He started away.

Annoyed, Sandra jogged to catch up with Richie. "Yeah, don't thank me all at once now."

Richie frowned. "Thank you for what?"

"For trying to be what you want me to be."

Richie stopped and stared at her, perplexed.

"You said you wished I was home to make dinner more," Sandra said patiently. "Like a regular mother."

"Oh, that."

"Richie, I'm trying, okay? At least meet me halfway."

Richie bit off a retort. They came so easily to him. The pattern had become so ingrained that it was difficult to stop.

But he was tired and not in the mood for conversation. All through the night, he had been haunted by the images he had seen in the den. It had been a restless night.

He wanted to be angry, but he needed to direct it at someone. Being angry at a dead man wouldn't cut it. He could hate Frank Hovath easily, but anger was more difficult. So his only choice was to be angry at Sandra.

He had indulged himself in anger towards his mother for a long time. But now was the first time that such a luxury was tainted with guilt.

"Yeah, okay," Richie said, somewhat less combatively. "I'll be there, butt and all."

They headed silently into the house and up the stairs. Richie turned to step into his room.

"Richie?"

Richie sighed dramatically and turned, but he managed to cut off another gibe. Instead, he said nothing, a sullen look on his face.

"Are you heading over to Miss Davis' house today?"

Richie made a face. "Nah, prob'ly not. Why?"

"You didn't go see her yesterday, so I was curious."

"How d'you know I didn't go see her, huh? You were out part of the day. Mebbe I went and fucked her a few times then."

Sandra looked taken aback, but recovered quickly, her lips curling into a small smile. "Well ... as long as you're having fun, that's all that matters."

But Richie's anger was boiling up again. He could not get the vision of the past out of his head. "Is that really why you want me at dinner, huh? So you can bug me about this?"

"No, Richie! I ... I-I want you to keep seeing her..."

Richie snorted. "No, you don't. You're just saying that cuz you hafta say it."

Sandra's eyes widened. She hesitated, as if struggling for words. Richie's eyes narrowed and flicked over her body. Did the Aura around her seem agitated? He couldn't see the patterns that Jason could, but it did seem as if it was swirling faster around her.

"Maybe I'm gettin' tired of her," Richie said. "Time to move on, y'know? Find someone new. Another girl to fuck. Gettin' bored doin' the same one over and over. Yeah, but you prob'ly don't know about that, huh?"

"I told you, I am not going to discuss my personal life with you!" Sandra declared. "Stop bringing it up!"

"Yeah, fine, whatever. Just go and get your fix."

Richie turned way. He took no more than a single step into the room before Sandra grabbed his arm and spun him around. Richie jerked his arm violently from her grasp and jumped back. He looked at his mother with both fury and fear.

"What the fuck did you mean by that?" Sandra demanded.

Richie's mouth worked but nothing came out.

"Answer me!"

Richie's mind worked furiously. He understood now that he could not let his mother know about his ability. She might try to stop him from learning the truth. Finally, he shrugged. "It just seems like you screw so much it's like you're fuckin' addicted to it or something."

Richie tried to say it as casually as possible, but he was never very good at concealing his feelings. There was still an anxious edge to his voice, and his eyes betrayed worry.

Sandra paused a long moment, then frowned at him. "Shut up. Stop trying to analyze everything I do. I like sex, Richie. Get over it."

Richie's mind filled with a hundred different retorts. Instead, he clenched his teeth and nodded curtly. He headed into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Richie had the urge to throw or kick something, but he checked that impulse as well. He let it out just enough to punch the mattress as he threw himself onto the bed, not even bothering to change out of his Sunday clothes.

His own thoughts seemed as pitiless as the visions of Sarah and Frank had been. Why did his mother stay in Haven after Frank died? Why couldn't she have gone back to Randall? Even with the addiction, she could have dealt with it there. She wouldn't have forced his father to leave her. She wouldn't have dragged Richie to this godforsaken place.

And he would have had a real family again.

I could find out.

Richie realized he could go back to the den and replay the scene. He could reach out to his mother and sense her thoughts. He could know what she was thinking the moment she...

Richie shivered as if hit with a blast of wintry air. And would he hear the Darkness as well? Would he hear what it was saying to his mother the moment it invaded and took control of her? Or would he hear his mother welcoming it, even inviting it into her, giving in to its seductive promises of pleasure in exchange for obedience?

He turned over and smacked the mattress with his fist again. He didn't know what to do next. All he had was his anger, and it was becoming clear that this would not serve him for much longer.

Jason wheeled his bicycle through the gate in the back of the Harbingers' meeting place. Melinda held the gate open for him with one hand while the other carried the tote that contained the book. Melinda was obviously excited, her disposition a lot sunnier now than it had been earlier. She was not even complaining about the biting chill to the air that morning.

Jason was anxious. He originally had every intention of telling Melinda that this may not be a good idea after all. It took Melinda only a minute of pleading and whispering naughty things in his ear to convince him otherwise.

He wheeled his bike across the frost-covered grass. The sky was a thin gauze of white, a ghost of a sun occasionally shining dimly through. Leaves crunched underfoot.

"I've wanted to do this for such a long time, Jason," Melinda piped as she let the gate swing closed behind them. "You think you can say the spell okay without Cassie here to help?"

"I think so. I know what the inflections are supposed to be now."

"Good. I am so looking forward to this!"

Jason leaned his bike against the back porch before they went inside. Melinda impatiently shed her gloves and coat. Jason had barely finished doing the same when Melinda grabbed the tote in one hand and Jason's hand in the other. She practically dragged him out of the room and up the stairs.

As soon as they were in the bedroom, Melinda dropped the book and threw her arms around Jason. She gave him a kiss and giggled excitedly. "Think we should get undressed first before you try the spell?"

"Um ... I-I don't think it really matters..."

Melinda grinned and wriggled her hips against him. A small, husky sigh escaped Jason's lips, and he grew hard against her body. "I just don't want to take any chances of the spell wearing off before we're done, Jason. So let's take off our clothes first."

Jason hesitated a moment, then nodded.

They parted and began to strip. Melinda moved a little faster, smiling as more of Jason's body was revealed. It faltered when she gasped at the purplish bruise on one arm and calf. "Jason, does that hurt at all?" she asked anxiously, still standing in her bra and panties.

"Huh?" Jason said absently as he stepped out of his jeans. His cock tented the fabric of his briefs. "Oh, um, not really. Just looks nasty."

"Good." She pulled off her bra and panties. Her pussy already glistened. She grinned and stepped up to Jason as soon as his briefs were off. She grasped his cock with her hand. "I would've been really upset if you had hurt this."

Jason drew in his breath and let it go as a soft moan as her fingers stroked him lightly. "N-no, that's just fine ... uhn ... y-you're going to distract me from doing the spell."

Melinda giggled and stepped back. "Okay, do the spell then."

Jason nodded and picked up the book. He sat on the bed and placed it in his lap.

For a very brief moment, he thought about the Rite of Power. He was not sure why that happened to pop into his head. He supposed it was because that was really what this book represented to him. He had not really cared about anything else that was in it.

He pushed this thought aside. Now was not the time to be concerned with the Rite. He instead focused his thoughts on what Melinda wanted of him. Seconds later, the book flipped open, and pages turned. Jason peered and struggled to read the description text, at least enough to confirm that it was the same one Cassie had found.

"I wish I was sure what the spell meant by 'soiled, '" Jason murmured.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, it might. Sometimes 'soiled' in the time when this was written meant a woman that has had sex before."

"So? It still prevents me from getting pregnant, right?"

"I think so."

"Then do it."

Jason nodded and read the incantation to himself a few times. Satisfied he had it right, he looked up and read it out loud. "Vistlath'stezra harlroth ilwit'stezra yirlos ron'indna!"

Melinda felt a wave of intense heat over her body. It was so sudden that her legs grew weak. She gasped softly and staggered.

Jason looked at her in alarm and set the book aside. "Melinda, are you all right?"

"J-Jason, was that the right spell?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes, it was the same one Cassie found."

"I-It feels more like the one from ... uhhhn ... oh God..."

Jason shot to his feet, a panicked look on his face. "Melinda, I'm sorry! Maybe I did it wrong. May... mmph?!"

Melinda drew Jason into a kiss. She panted heavily into it, mashing her lips to his with a hunger that bordered on frantic. Her mouth opened, and she plunged her tongue past his. She felt his erection press against her and shuddered hard enough for Jason to feel it.

Melinda broke off the kiss, breathing hard, her eyes dark with a lust so intense it made Jason speechless.

"Fuck me," Melinda moaned. "Fuck me hard ... Please ... Please, Jason ... make me scream ... pound your cock into me..."

Jason stared at her in shock. He knew what had gone wrong. The wording of the spell had mattered. It had done just more than give Melinda protection against pregnancy.

Melinda didn't wait for him to react. Moaning and trembling with intense need, she pushed him back towards the bed. The back of Jason's calves hit the edge, and with Melinda pushing him, he could not recover. He fell into a seated position at the foot of the bed.

"Melinda, wait, you..." Jason began, until Melinda sat in his lap and kissed him again. She sent him falling backwards, a grunt escaping him as his back hit the mattress. He tried to draw his legs onto the bed and push himself further up, but Melinda was already shoving her hips against him, her breathing heavy as she sought his cock.

Jason only barely managed to nudge the two of them far enough so his feet did not have to rest uncomfortably off the bed before his cock slid into something tight and wet.

Melinda moaned as she pushed herself down and buried him inside her. She wriggled her hips tightly against his body. Jason had never gone this deeply into her. "That feels sooo good... " Melinda cooed in a breathless, husky voice. "I love your cock inside me, Jason ... I love it when you fuck me..."

Melinda's hips rose and fell. Jason groaned as her pussy seemed to clench around his member, even more so than he remembered it. Each time he penetrated her again with each downward thrust of her hips, it elicited another moan or gasp from him.

"Oh wow, Melinda..." Jason groaned.

"More..." Melinda breathed, panting hard. Her eyes closed, and her hips humped faster. "More ... uhhn ... yeah... "

In the back of his mind, Jason knew that Melinda had been enchanted by the spell. She was not acting normal. But he couldn't bring himself to stop her. She wanted this, and thus he wanted it as well.

And the part of him that was a perfectly normal male teenage boy did not want her to stop, either.

"More ... oh God more..." Melinda whimpered.

Melinda slammed her hips against him in a mad frenzy, until her body was slapping against his loud enough to be heard through the door. She gasped for air between constant moans of mounting delight, her pleasure soaring as her pussy ached and strained.

Jason was rising with her, panting almost as hard. His hands held her hips, helping her keep to a steady rhythm despite her frantic need.

"Oh yeah!" Melinda cried. "Oh yeah! ... ohmigod ... more ... please, more! ... uhhn! ... uhhh! ... oh God!!... AHHH!!"

Melinda's pussy exploded, throbbing so hard that she nearly screamed. Her cunt convulsed around Jason's cock, triggering Jason's climax seconds later.

Melinda squealed with delight as he throbbed inside her. Her orgasm didn't abate until his faded, and even then it lingered, diminishing slowly, until it left her panting for breath.

Jason fell limp, feeling totally spent. His chest rose and fell against Melinda's soft breasts. Melinda was still humping him slowly, until his erection finally had flagged enough that it couldn't sustain it. She reluctantly let him slip from her.

Jason was about to say something when Melinda swiftly descended upon him in another sensual, passionate kiss.

"M-Melinda, that was..." Jason began when she broke off.

"Again," Melinda moaned. She shivered with desire, her pussy still hot and wet. "Fuck me again ... please..."

Jason stared, his eyes wide. "What?? But ... b-but I can't..."

She squirmed against him, gyrating her hips, crushing her tits to his chest. "I'll help you get hard again," she said in a sultry whisper. "Then you can stick it in my cunt. You can fuck me again. Nice and hard."

A stunned Jason could only stare before she kissed him again.

Melissa felt like she could enjoy Sundays again.

The whole church nonsense was gone, for one. No more listening to meaningless platitudes spewed by a stranger with no knowledge of Melissa's troubles. If that were not enough, her mother had insisted on regurgitating them on the walk home. Then she was forced to sit with the family through lunch in her Sunday finest.

But she kept the lunch, if not the formal dress. She liked having the family together. It let her experiment.

"I finished the weekend chores yesterday, dear," said James. He was a rather unassuming man, a bit lean, his hair thinning on top. He looked with some uncertainty at his wife. "I was planning on watching the game, if that's okay."

Melissa smiled as she turned her gaze to her mother. Kathy squirmed in her seat. Her body was clad in a bikini of the most shocking pink color Melissa could find. A very soft, rhythmic squishing sound issued from somewhere under the table. Kathy's hips rocked in time with it. "Uhhn ... y-yes, dear ... that's fine..." she moaned.

James smiled, looking relieved. Kathy always had a problem with watching sports on "The Lord's Day." He was glad she had loosened up about that as well. "So what will you be up to today?"

Kathy panted as the dildo in her pussy thrust back and forth under Melissa's power. "S-spending time with Melissa."

"Oh, what will you be doing?"

Kathy swallowed, and her cheeks burned as she tried to resist the words that were bubbling to her mouth. "Learning how to be a horny slut."

"Well, I hope you two have fun." James rose. "I better get going, kickoff is in ten minutes."

Melissa almost laughed. As James displayed his complete ignorance of Kathy's appearance and speech, she witnessed Melinda turn into a horny slut herself over the link. It was a mercy that Jason had put the book aside. Melissa was sure she could not have contained her mirth a moment longer.

It was, however, tempered by the fact that she had failed to gain the Rite once more. But the Harbingers were curious enough about the book that eventually someone was going to pick it up again.

Laura Bendon had made it all clear to her the evening before, when Melissa had called her for some advice on how to hasten matters.

"Power is something everyone wants, Miss Hendell, remember that," Laura Bendon had told her. "The Harbingers may think they are so noble and pure, but they can be affected by its allure as well. Or at least make them curious. You will get your chance. Don't push too hard."

So Melissa had been gentle with Jason. He had been easier to influence than Cassie, but he was too focused on his task for it to be effective.

She turned to her mother. "Isn't this so much better than going to a stuffy old church?"

Kathy whimpered as the dildo pumped into her faster, the outward end bulging against the crotch of her bikini. She suddenly jerked in her seat as she felt something tweak her nipples. She felt it again, and again, each time tugging a bit harder, until her nipples ached and tingled. Then they felt like they were being rolled firmly between two invisible fingers. Soon they throbbed gently, sending more forbidden pleasure through her already ravaged body.

"Melissa, please stop," Kathy begged, raising two teary eyes to her daughter. "Please, no more..."

Melissa's good mood evaporated. "Will you stop begging?! What is the matter with you? You still think this is so evil?"

Kathy's reply became a strident moan. She spread her thighs apart, whimpering pitifully as her pleasure rose sharply. She threw her head back and cried out softly as her pussy throbbed.

The dildo stopped, and Kathy's orgasm faded. Melissa sighed as Kathy slumped in her chair. Melissa slipped into her mother's mind. She made Kathy slide the dildo out of her pussy and work it with her mouth as if sucking a guy's cock.