Chapter 26

Jason ducked into the garage as soon as the door had risen far enough to admit his bike. He unhooked the bag from the handlebars and shoved it under his mother's car. That would hide the book sufficiently for the time it would take to check his email and let his mother know he was going out again.

Jason was careful to wait for the garage door to come down before he left the garage. "I'm home, Mom," he called out in a casual voice before heading up the stairs.

Halfway up, his mother burst out of the kitchen.

"Get back down here right now!"

Jason froze. His stomach churned as he turned around. His mother stood at the bottom of the steps, her arms folded, giving Jason a look that was far more harsh than anything he remembered.

Jason came down the stairs. "Um ... what's wrong, Mom?"

"You're going to tell me right now where you have been all day and exactly what you have been doing. Now."

Jason's mind raced. There was no point in claiming he was at school. He realized he was a fool for thinking that this simple ruse would work. It should have been obvious that Principal Bendon would take note of two very specific people absent at the same time. Even disregarding this fact, the trip to and from the campgrounds had taken much longer than he had planned, so he never had the chance to get to a computer to undo his work.

"Well, it's obvious you already know I wasn't in school," Jason said evenly.

"That doesn't answer my question! I want to know..." She ticked off her fingers as she spoke. "Where you were, what you were doing, and who you were doing it with."

Jason decided to start off with the truth. Every good lie has a kernel of truth to it. "I went to the campgrounds, the ones just outside of town in the foothills. I was with Richie."

Audrey took a deep breath and let it go. When she spoke again, her voice was a little less harsh. "Well, that answers the where and the who. You can be sure, young man, that I fully intend to have a talk with his mother, if for no other reason than to make sure you were really with him."

Jason hated implicating Richie, but it was likely Bendon was causing Richie the same heartache as well. "That's fine, Mom. He'll tell you the same thing, that he was with me."

"But you haven't answered the why. Why, Jason? You didn't just skip out on classes, you went somewhere that was inherently dangerous without adult supervision! Did it not have a sign on it telling you it was closed for the season?"

Jason sighed. "Yes, it did, Mom."

"Then why did you go there?"

Jason hesitated. "I can't tell you," he said softly.

Audrey looked aghast. "I beg your pardon? You can't tell me?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. I can't."

Audrey remained in stunned silence for a moment. She frowned deeply and her eyes burned. "All right. I want you to cut the bullshit. Tell me who you were really with."

Jason was momentarily nonplussed. His mother rarely used profanity. "I told you that I was with Richie. No one else, just him."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not!" Jason cried, incensed. "Who else would I be with?"

"Oh, I can think of any number of people, Jason. Melinda. Heather. Diane. Cassie..."

"Then call them up if you want and find out if they've been in school!" Jason cried. "Or call the school and ask them!"

"Oh, I will, young man, you can count on that."

"Good. Then you'll know I'm telling you the truth. I haven't told you a single lie since we've been talking."

"And that's supposed to reassure me? When you already gave me the biggest lie of all this morning when you said you were going to school in the first place?!"

Jason fumed. He didn't want to be angry at his mother. She was acting as a mother should. He briefly considered telling her everything, but worried if she would think him either insane or a fantastic liar. Neither would put him in any better position than he was.

"You have one more chance, Jason," said Audrey, her voice growing more tense. "One more. Tell me what you and Richie were doing."

"I can't."

Audrey let out a sigh.

"Mom, please! It wasn't anything bad or illegal! Look, give me a little time. Just a few more days. Then maybe I can tell you. I just need..."

"I've heard enough. Go to your room. You're grounded until further notice."

Jason's heart sank. "Mom, please ... I've never done anything like this before..."

"And I'm bringing you to the doctor's office tomorrow morning."

Jason stared. "Huh? Why?"

Audrey's eyes shimmered. "So you can be tested for drugs."

"What?!"

"Jason, what else would you have me believe?! You said it was just Richie and you. If it wasn't the girls, then it wasn't sex. That leaves only drugs."

"I AM NOT DOING DRUGS!" Jason bellowed. "You think I'm so stupid that I'd take that shit into my body?!"

SLAP!

Jason staggered back and nearly tripped on the bottom step. He raised his hand to the cheek that his mother had just struck, staring at her in horror.

"Don't you DARE use that language with your mother!" Audrey cried. "I don't know what's happened to you, Jason! You are not the same person you were before this past summer. If it's not drugs, tell me what it can be. Tell me right now what it is!"

Jason sensed a desperation in his mother's voice that tore at his heart. She really wanted to believe it was something else. She did not want to think her son was doing drugs. But it was the only thing that fit in her world view.

Audrey took a deep breath and drew back when Jason did not answer. She struggled to hold back tears. "Go to your room," she said in a shaky voice.

"But, Mom, please, I have to..."

"I SAID GO TO YOUR ROOM!"

Jason turned away. He heard his mother stomp off and retreat into the sewing room, slamming the door behind her.

Jason trudged up the stairs. The conflicting emotions and imperatives in his head were tearing him apart. He could not hurt his mother, but he had to get back to the others. He could not abandon them. He had to get to them somehow, by any means necessary.

By any means...

He paused at the threshold to his room. He remembered what Cassie had told him about the vision in the library, and what Jessica had done to insure a man's silence.

He swallowed hard. He also remembered how he had used the power from the House against his own parents, and how it had made him feel.

This isn't fair, he thought, banging a fist against the frame of the door.

He took a deep breath and carefully crept down the stairs towards the garage.

"Uhhh! ... Oh God ... Oh Diane ... uhhn..."

Diane licked at Heather's pussy with incredible skill. It was as if the spell had also imparted to Diane the exact knowledge she needed to maximize her Mistress' pleasure. Diane's tongue flicked and swirled about Heather's clit, her fingers thrusting into Heather's tunnel at an ever faster pace.

Heather lay on her back, her feet on the edge of the bed and spread far apart. "Your face ... use your face..." Heather panted.

Diane complied immediately, her mind still lost in a fog of blissful obedience. She buried her face in Heather's sex, lips and tongue rubbing Heather's slick slit. Heather's moans became more strident as she rose. Diane curled her arms around Heather's thighs to pull herself even more firmly into Heather's pussy.

Heather uttered a loud cry and tossed her head back. Her pussy gushed and squirted from around Diane's cheeks. Diane murmured in delight and shuddered as her own pussy throbbed in reward for bringing her Mistress such pleasure.

Heather panted heavily. By the time her orgasm abated, she was out of breath. She lay still, chest rising and falling rapidly. Diane drew back, her face shining and wet.

Diane settled back on her feet, her head bowed. Heather's cum dripped from her face to the floor before her. "Your slave hopes she pleased you, Mistress."

"Oh God ... oh wow ... yes, Diane, you pleased me..."

Diane shivered and moaned, her pussy throbbing again. She smiled dreamily as she came. "Ohhh ... thank you, Mistress..."

Heather struggled to sit up. "Diane, did you just cum?"

Diane looked up. "Yes, Mistress. Your slave was so excited at having pleased you. Please, what may your slave do for you now?"

Heather smiled. "Cum for me again."

Diane moaned and quivered, her knees sliding apart as her pussy throbbed intensely.

Heather stood and stepped over to Diane. She looked down. The feeling of power was intoxicating. It was the same as with Melinda. It wasn't so much the sex as it was the rush of being in control.

She shuddered. This was wrong. She was abusing the power. Diane would never want to act this way on her own, even despite her submissive streak.

But seeing Diane kneeling at her feet was making Heather horny again. Even after that fantastic orgasm, she was still excited at having Diane at her mercy. Her rising lust was making it difficult to think straight.

For a fleeting moment, she again understood that something was amiss. This couldn't be her. She wasn't like this any more. She wouldn't take advantage of people just for her own pleasure. That was the old Heather.

Heather trembled and her voice quavered. "Kiss my feet, slave..."

It sounded wrong. It felt wrong. But when Diane's willing lips brushed against her skin, her pussy tingled madly, and her nipples grew hard and taut.

"Lick my toes."

Diane moaned softly as her tongue swirled around each toe as skillfully as if she were playing at Heather's clit. Heather shuddered as her desire was inflamed.

"Now cum..." Heather said huskily. "Keep cumming as you lick..."

Diane's hips writhed. Deep moans bestowed touches of Diane's hot, moist breath against Heather's feet as her cunt pulsed, sending her into paroxysms of delight.

Heather clenched her hands to resist touching herself. Her pussy needed attention again, but she would have Diane get to this shortly.

Melissa pressed her hands to her temples, closed her eyes and took slow, deep breaths. It did little to help. Dull pain still throbbed. The aspirin she had taken had not made even a dent in it.

She didn't understand what was going wrong. She was having to push harder and harder. Was Melinda resisting her? Heather? Both?

She silently cursed. She was at her limit. To apply any more pressure, she would have to give up both her mother and Susan's mother. She wasn't ready to do that yet. She had to keep them from causing her trouble. She already saw how much trouble releasing Brad had caused her.

She wished she knew where Heather was at that moment. Then she would just go there and affect Heather directly without needing Melinda. That was really the only thing holding her back.

Applying direct control required eye contact. Once she had direct control, distance was no longer a factor. Which was why she was puzzled that her partial hold on Melinda was weakening.

And now Jason was reading book again. He was looking up a spell about memory. Why was he doing that?

She gritted her teeth and struggled to maintain her concentration. She needed only a little more time.

Melinda had managed to get out of bed, but standing was impossible. Her legs were too weak. She crawled on her hands and knees towards the door, moaning and whimpering as she fought the urge to touch her still needful flesh.

Her knees slid wider apart as she crawled, as if reminding her of her pussy's lingering need. She put all thought of talking out of her head. She was not going to try to talk to anyone. No one at all.

She shivered. Her pussy dripped hot lust on the carpet. Even the thought of trying to talk to someone was enough to set her off.

Get out of my head ... get out of my head ... get out of my head...

Melinda kept repeating the mantra to herself. She tried to imagine her words as big clubs that she swung at the tendrils of black that tried to suffocate her will. She couldn't tell if she was making any progress. She wouldn't know unless she tried to...

Melinda moaned deeply and fell onto her side. She balled her hands into fists to stop herself from masturbating again. Her pussy squished when her thighs came together, a flare of wet heat in her delta threatening to drive her to distraction and ruin her mantra.

She struggled to stave off her erotic thoughts. She needed only a little more time.

A soft knock came at the door.

Audrey looked up. Her eyes were red. She wiped at a glistening stain on her face. She took a deep breath to steady herself before calling out, "Jason, I told you to go to your room."

"I need to talk to you, Mom," came Jason's muffled voice through the door.

"We have nothing to discuss, young man, not unless..."

"I'll tell you everything. Everything that happened today. Everything that's been happening since the summer."

Audrey's mouth dropped open, and she trembled. Her worst nightmare had been confirmed.

Or maybe not. Maybe it was something else. Maybe he wasn't doing drugs. Maybe he wasn't trying to arrange for an abortion for Melinda. Or for any of the other girls he had slept with. Maybe there was some other explanation, something less heinous. Something she could fix.

Audrey stood up and opened the door. "Jason, you had better be prepared to tell me the absolute..."

"Thotg'altkas orgos ron'indna!"

Audrey drew in a single, long breath and let it go as a low moan, her eyes half-lidded and glazed. Her hand fell away from the door knob and limply to her side. Her shoulders slumped. She stared straight ahead as she dropped deeply into trance.

Jason's insides clenched. "Mom ... I ... I want you to forget about the call you got from Principal Bendon."

"I will forget about the call..." Audrey echoed, her voice barely audible.

"Forget about the argument we had."

"I will forget..."

"The argument never happened. The phone call never happened."

"Never happened..."

"I was in school all day. There is no reason to doubt that."

"In school ... no reason..."

Jason felt sick. He had to keep telling himself that this was necessary, that he was doing this for a greater good. And it was for his mother's good as well. She wouldn't have the trauma of believing that her son was a drug addict.

He paused to make sure he had not forgotten anything. He had only one chance at this, as he did not think he would ever have the courage to do this again. "Awaken."

Audrey blinked rapidly as her eyes refocused. She appeared dazed, until she glanced down at Jason and gasped.

"Sorry, Mom," Jason said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"Oh, it's okay, Jason ... wait ... I don't remember you coming home..."

"I just got in a little while ago. You were busy and I didn't want to disturb you."

"Busy? Oh ... Strange, I can't recall what I was doing ... Did you have a good day at school?"

Jason forced a small smile. "Yeah, it was okay. Same as usual. Um, Mom, I need to go out again. I promised some friends I'd meet them after school."

"Just remember what I said about being home an hour before dinner."

"Right. No problem. I'll see you later."

Jason quickly made his way back to the garage.

He had to do it, of course. He had his friends to consider. He had Haven to consider, as well as the innocent people that were ultimately at risk if the Darkness had its way.

Nevertheless, he still had to pause and wipe tears from his eyes as he waited for the garage door to go up.

Ned was uptight. He would pace the living room, or wander into the kitchen and glance out the back window to see if anyone else had arrived yet. He would sometimes stand at the foot the stairs and look up, wondering if he should do something.

But do what? Walk in on Melinda? On Heather or Diane? Most likely any of those actions would get him roundly slapped. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

He again stood at the foot the stairs. He wondered how much of it was simple jealousy. Everyone was getting some except him. He silently berated himself for that thought a moment later. It wasn't like Melinda had a choice in what was happening to her.

Thump.

Ned frowned and looked around. Had he heard a noise, or was it just his own anxiety playing tricks on him? He started away from the stairs.

Thump.

... except to find that it was coming from up those stairs. He returned and looked up again, puzzled. There was a long pause.

Thump.

"Melinda?" Ned called out tentatively. "Heather? ... Um ... everything okay up there?"

Thump.

"Prolly nuthin'," Ned mumbled as he started up the stairs.

Melinda had fallen hard against the door in her first attempt to open it. She lay on the floor moaning, her hand again giving rise to soft, wet noises between her thighs.

When Ned's voice drifted to her, she had an idea.

Not talking to him ... not talking to him ... not talking to him... she repeated in her head as she rose to her knees and pounded her free hand against the door once. She whimpered and sank her fingers deeper into her pussy, distracting her too much to think of anything else for another minute.

When she was able to think again, she gave the door another thump with her fist.

Not talking not talking not talking not gonna talk not gonna talk not gonna talk...

Melissa panted. Her temples pounded. Harder. Push harder. Keep pushing.

You should have eliminated Debby.

Melissa squeezed her eyes shut. Almost there.

You would have more power now if you had eliminated her.

Melissa gritted her teeth. The pain grew worse as her muscles tensed. It shot down the back of her head towards her neck.

If this fails, it will be your fault.

"Shut up ... please shut up..." Melissa begged under her breath.

"Ohhh!"

Heather gushed a second time over Diane's face, moaning as she stood quivering in the throes of her orgasm. Diane made a gurgling noise as she kept licking at her Mistress' pussy, fluid dripping down her face and trickling over her breasts. Her own pussy throbbed gently in reward.

Heather took a shaky step back, still panting. Diane remained on her knees. But rather than keeping her head bowed, she lifted her eyes to her Mistress. As much as they were filled with obedience and desire to please, a pleading look shimmered within them as well.

Heather looked into Diane's eyes. "It's starting to wear off, isn't it?" she asked, her voice still breathless.

Diane hesitated before finally speaking in a weak voice, "I ... your slave ... wishes to serve you, Mistress."

"You want to keep doing this? You want to keep being my slave?"

Diane shuddered. "Your slave ... must serve you..." she murmured.

"Yes ... yes, you want to ... you do want it."

"M-Mistress ... your desires are mine..."

There was a growing struggle in Diane's voice to match that in her gaze. Obedience and desperation both flickered across her eyes. Her body quivered.

Heather was panting lightly again, but only partially from desire. Some small part of her had realized that it was not just her own dark fantasies against which she now struggled.

I can't ... I can't do ... but it's what Diane wants ... no, she ... but...

Heather stepped away from Diane and fetched the paper with the incantations written upon it. Diane's breath caught, but she could not get herself to speak. Heather returned to her, still staring at the paper that she held in her shaking hands. "This last one ... I-I can make it permanent..."

Diane whimpered softly. The veil was lifting, but only very slowly. She struggled against it in vain. The spell effect would not dissipate any faster. "Y-yes, Mistress," she heard herself say, unable to stop herself.

Heather looked at Diane. "You ... you want me to? You really want me to?"

Diane swallowed. "I-I ... I'm ... I'm your slave ... your slave is here to please."

"But how would it feel to be my slave all the time? How..."

Diane moaned as her pussy suddenly throbbed. She shuddered as the pleasure rose up into her mind and made what little thinking she could manage impossible for a few crucial moments.

It's okay, she wants it ... no ... this isn't right ... but she ... I want to control her...

Heather shuddered, her pussy swollen and wet with renewed lust. "Okay ... good ... I just wanted to make sure..."

Cassie huffed as she ran along the edge of the greenbelt, clutching at a terribly painful stitch in her side. She wasn't going to get there in time. Scenes of horror flitted through her head as to what she would see once she got there. Tears occasionally blurred her vision.

My fault, came her anguished thought. If something happens to any of them, it will be my fault. I never should have left them.

She had already berated herself for not listening to Jason in the first place when he had suspected the whole thing from the start. Now she worried if her judgment about the meeting place had been wrong as well. Had Melissa set that up also? Was she waiting to swoop down on them whenever she wanted?

The thought that Melissa might be there waiting for her filled her with such fear that she considered turning back. She would do no such thing of course, but just having the thought made her feel like a coward.

I'm just a stupid spoiled little rich girl, just like everyone says...

She sniffled and wiped away the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks.

Ned jumped back when he opened the bedroom door and saw a naked, masturbating Melinda on the floor.

"Holy shit, I'm sorry! I..."

"Heather! Aura! Stop! S-s-f-fuck me! Fuck me hard! Lick my pussy!" Melinda exploded before crying out in orgasm.

"Melinda, don't try to talk, it..."

He trailed off.

Heather. Aura. Stop.

Ned bolted. He barreled into the adjacent bedroom, his eyes barely registering the snaky tendrils of black around Heather or the strange syllables she was uttering before he tackled her and knocked her to the floor.

Diane moaned and swayed. Her eyes had begun to glaze back into complete and utter obedience at the sound of the incantation. Now it was fading, and the sliver of will that had returned grew slowly but steadily stronger.

When she shivered again, it was not in pleasure, but at the terrible thought of how she had nearly lost herself forever.

"Get off me!" Heather screamed as Ned pinned her wrists to the floor. "Get off! Ned, what the fuck ... what ... oh no..."

Diane whimpered and started to cry.

Heather's eyes widened. The Darkness around her body began a slow retreat as her mind cleared. "Oh God ... oh my God, DIANE! Ned, LET GO!!"

The sound of terror in Heather's voice was enough of a shock that Ned loosened his grip. Heather wrenched her body from under his and rushed to Diane's side. She fell to her knees and hugged Diane fiercely. "Oh my God, Diane ... I'm sorry ... I'm so sorry..."

The effects of the enslavement spell now rapidly fading, Diane buried her head in Heather's shoulder and wailed, tears spilling down Heather's shoulder and back. Heather started to cry as well.