Chapter 15

Cassie's fingers curled hard into Ned's shoulders each time his body shifted above her, leaving faint red crescents where her nails dug into his skin to the breathy mantra of "don't stop." Ned slammed into her, his pants of exertion and mounting pleasure mingling with the creak of the bedsprings and the groan of the floorboards. Cassie thrust her hips to his in time with his down-stroke, gasping with a need that was almost painful, whimpering as her pleasure rose but did not crest.

Through the haze of desire she understood that her body was waiting for him. Just like the others, neither of them could climax before his or her partner. Cassie trembled at the precipice of orgasm, both body and mind screaming for release, perspiration dotting her skin despite the drafty room.

Every nerve of her sex was on fire, the flames burning away any rational thought. She did not recognize herself. This horny, wet-pussied girl was not someone she knew. Her own thoughts seemed alien to her. Even with Ned's cock filling her, images of Jason, Heather, Melinda, and Diane flitted through her head, exciting her as much as Ned ever could. Even Richie, the person she once tried to control when she was under Nyssa's thrall, even he appeared to her as if...

No ... no more ... no more of this...

Her silent plea went unheeded, and her visions taunted her with erotic delights she never dared imagine as Ned panted hard into her ear. His climax was seconds away, but not fast enough for Cassie.

"Make me cum ... oh, God, please make me cum..." Cassie heard herself beg in a husky, quavering voice. "Please... please! ... make ... uhhhnn!... OHHHH!!"

Ned groaned and shuddered as his cock throbbed hard inside Cassie's suddenly very tight cunt. The muscles in his rear trembled and clenched, his cock moving in slow, measured strokes. Cassie gasped and wrapped her arms around him, breathing hard into his ear and shoving her hips against him to force his cock to fill her once more. Her thoughts fought to stay afloat above the whirlpool of emotions ravaged by the hard throbbing of her orgasm.

Should have ... better if I ... you were needed ... not good enough unless every...

"Uhhngg... " Cassie's arms loosened. The odd, disjointed snippets of thought dissolved as her climax ebbed, like a fading whisper in her ear. She opened her eyes, looking up at him in silent question.

"Jeez, Cassie, that was ... I ... wow," Ned panted. The post-coital ache in his cock spread to the spent muscles of his rear and thighs.

Cassie closed her eyes again. She wanted to reach out to the thoughts that had slipped away from her, but there was nothing for her to find. She was sure she had sensed something, but it eluded her.

Ned touched Cassie's arm. "Um, you okay, babe?"

Cassie smiled and lay a hand against his cheek. A residual heat lingered in her pussy, as if some small part of her was still left unsatisfied. She had the urge to rub her sex against his flagging cock until he was hard again, but...

It's too late, and this is not the right place.

Cassie uttered a short gasp. Her eyes widened, and her hand withdrew from Ned's cheek.

"What is it?" Ned asked.

"Did you just say something to me?"

"Jus' when I asked if ya was okay."

"No, not that, I ... um ... never mind."

Ned grasped the hand that had touched his cheek and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Ya sure yer okay?"

"I don't know. I thought I heard something."

Ned looked up, and his body tensed. "Oh, crap, was it the front door? Shit, I didn't think Mom woulda--"

"No, stop. I didn't hear the door, that wasn't it."

Ned listened for himself and let out a windy sigh. "Jeez, don't do that to me."

Cassie sat up, her hand squeezing his. "Sorry. Maybe 'heard' isn't the right word. It was more like a thought ... like..."

She trailed off as her eyes became unfocused. Ned recognized the start of one of her introspective trances and let out a tiny sigh through his nose. He could only remain patient while she tuned out the rest of the world.

Cassie's eyes became distant. It's too late. What did that mean? Too late for what? This is not the right place. The place for what? For sex? The only other place was the house, and that was where Heather and the others...

Cassie blinked and drew in a sharp breath. "Ned, I have the strangest sense that something just happened." She turned her eyes towards him. "Did you sense anything while we had sex? Anything odd? Like some strange passing thought?"

Ned rubbed his neck. "I was kinda distracted at the time, babe."

"I know, but please, it's important. Was there anything at all, anything that seemed out of place?"

"Yer not gonna like it."

"Just tell me, Ned, please."

"Look, it was jus' fer a moment, see? Not like I wanna go do it, jus'--"

"Ned, tell me already!"

"I kinda thought about bein' at the house. I mean, with you, 'natch, but also I kinda, sorta, mebbe thought about Heather, too."

Cassie gasped.

"I swear, babe, yer the only girl fer me! I'd never--"

Cassie leapt off the bed and gathered her clothes. "Ned, get dressed! We have to get over to the house and see if Heather and the others are okay!"

Ned stared in confusion for a few seconds before finally prompting himself into action. "Damn, now yer gettin' precogs, too?" he asked as he scrambled off the bed.

"It's not that, it's ... oh, I can't explain it, Ned, please, let's hurry and get over there!"

Ned blew out his lips. Understanding girls was hard enough. Understanding a girl with extra-sensory powers was even harder.

Heather was as helpless as the others. She quivered and squirmed as her pleasure rose in concert with her sex-mates. Her moans joined those of the other Harbingers now united in the sexual chain that they had created at her bidding.

No one could stop. No one could think of anything else except consummating the act. Had anyone else entered the house, the Harbingers would have remained oblivious, their minds drowning in wet lust. Heather had pushed them into a state of total abandon without knowing why, and then she herself fell to it.

Diane's tongue flicked and teased Heather's clit in perfect rhythm. Her lips drew to Heather's folds, a small intake of breath coaxed the swollen, slick knob of aroused flesh inside. Heather's pants became gasps, her feet rising from the floor as her thighs tensed with her excruciating rise of tiny steps.

Moans deepened, and whimpers became more shrill and urgent. Melinda spread her legs until her thigh muscles stretched. Perspiration glistened on Jason's body, his cock aching from both effort and need. Diane let her hips drop further, her pussy so wet, hot, and unsatisfied. Melinda tipped her head back to breathe, overwhelmed by the thick aroma of Diane's still needy cunt.

Through their haze of desire and want came another presence.

Diane sensed it first, shimmering at the edge of her perception. Her whole body tingled, thin tendrils of sensation that radiated first from her pussy, then from her nipples, leaving behind skin flushed with heat as if caressed by a warm, moist breath.

Diane trembled as the sensations spread, trailing hot erotic delight over her lust-ravaged body. A muffled, shrill cry burst from between her legs as Melinda felt it as well. Jason gasped as if out of breath as the sensations threatened to overwhelm his saturated senses. Heather's fingers curled into the sofa cushion as her body dipped into a pool of raw, liquid emotion.

It came over Heather like a tidal wave rolling toward a dam. The dam would not hold. This barrier would finally fall. She had no idea what it meant. A barrier to what? Against what?

I can't.

But she had done what she claimed she couldn't do, just not to enough of them. She needed the others. It had to be this way, or else they would all fail.

Not Cassie ... not to ... not ... Richie ... can't ... he...

For a brief, illuminating moment, she understood in perfect, shining clarity. She saw why she was doing this, and what it was for. She was horrified that they had not done it sooner. How had they come this far without it, and how much grief could they have avoided if they had it sooner?

The dam burst, and with it went her epiphany.

Every muscle tensed as hot cum spurted over Diane's face and splashed over the insides of her thighs. Her nipples throbbed in concert with her pussy and radiated over the rest of her body until she was consumed in total sexual ecstasy.

A single wave of orgasmic delight passed over all of them at once, as if their individual sensations and emotions were passed up and down the chain. Their pleasure ran and melted together into a single shared climax, euphoria permeating their minds like a thick mist.

Jason collapsed atop Melinda, his cock still throbbing inside Melinda's spasming cunt. His muscles clenched as if still fucking her, and her pussy squeezed and milked his cock. Diane fell forward into Heather, Melinda still clinging to her and drawing out the last of her climax. Heather became limp, her head lolling to one side.

The shared sensation faded. Their emotions withdrew from one another, followed by their bodies. Jason's cock was still stiff as it popped with a wet sound from Melinda's pussy. Melinda's hands fell from Diane's thighs. Diane groaned and staggered to the side, falling to a half-seated position on the floor.

No one spoke for another minute, the only sounds the soft pants and gentle groans from post-coital bliss.

Heather breathed out in a slow sigh and leaned forward. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her temples. "I had it," she said in a low voice. "I had it, dammit."

Melinda sat up, and her pussy gave a few last dull throbs. "Had ... uhhn ... h-had what?"

"What just happened?" Diane asked in a shaking voice.

Melinda pulled her legs under her and moaned at yet more lingering pleasure in her sex. "You mean besides boinking our brains out?"

"No, something else ... it was like ... I-I can't explain it."

"I felt something, too," Jason said, his voice still strained and breathy. He tried to stand, but fell into a position similar to Diane when his legs felt too weak to hold him. "But I don't know what it was, either."

"It was weird, whatever it was," Melinda said. "That was already so intense! I don't think I ever--"

"I had it!" Heather cried. Her eyes popped open, and her hands fell from her temples and curled into fists. She beat them once against the cushion. "Shit! I figured it out! I had it figured out!"

"Had what figured out?" Melinda demanded.

"Why I keep doing this! Why I keep making everyone have sex!"

"At least you finally admit it!"

"Melinda, please," Jason said.

"I'm not getting mad at her, okay? I mean, I enjoyed it, even if I had to tongue-boink the assistant bubblehead here. But Heather kept dancing around it and wouldn't--"

"Melinda, shut up, " Heather growled. Heather closed her eyes again and continued in a softer voice. "Just be quiet for a minute. I think I got something. I might be remembering it."

The others fell silent. Diane pulled herself up until she was crouching near Heather's legs, looking up at her lover and wishing she could help.

Heather's lips parted. "I see something ... I ... no, wait, it's not..."

She gasped and opened her eyes.

Reality shifted.

"Oh goodness!" Cassie cried as she burst from the kitchen.

"Heather!" Melinda screamed, dropping to her knees.

Diane tried to say something, but could only make a distressed choking sound, her eyes blurring, her arm draped around her fallen lover's shoulders.

"Please, everyone, give her some room!" Jason shouted. "Look, she's coming out of it!"

Heather blinked and groaned from where she lay on the floor after she had slid from the sofa in a boneless heap, eyes glazed and staring. She winced and rubbed her sore tail bone with her hand.

Melinda let out a ragged sigh. "Don't scare me like that!" she gushed in a quavering voice.

"Careful, you landed kind of hard," Jason said.

"Jeez, what happened?" Ned asked.

"We're not sure," Jason said. "She said she was remembering something, next thing she zoned out and--"

"I saw it again!" Heather cried. She sat up, wincing as she put her weight on her bruised backside. "The chamber! The guy who took the Book! I saw more of it! And ... I-I think I saw the Darkness. It was taking the Book from him. He takes the Book from us, only to have the Darkness take it from him!"

Gina stepped off the bus as swirls of dust played about in the afternoon sun, blown from the empty fields on the west side of the road in the waning Chinook winds. The bus pulled from the curb and released a gust that whipped her hair about her face.

She paused for the wind to abate before brushing strands of hair from her eyes. A short distance down the road, the bus turned at the corner and roared back towards the school, her stop the last on the route.

Gina was disappointed. She had hoped it would stay cold enough keep the snow around, a beautiful white blanket to hide the dead plants and brown grass. She imagined it as a pristine blank canvas, yet whenever she tried to picture something to paint upon it, nothing coherent would come to her. Only bits and pieces would conjure themselves in her mind, and she failed to arrange them even on her own mental slate.

"Hey, Gina! Wake up!"

Gina spun around. "Oh, hi, Stephanie."

Stephanie smirked as she approached, her heels clicking against the asphalt. With her last step, she thrust a leg out straight, stretching the folds of her tight shorts against her thigh. "Boy, you're just in your own little world, huh?"

"Sorry," Gina said, her tone subdued. "I didn't hear you behind me."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I was, like, right there when we got off the bus! Duh!"

Gina looked puzzled. "We? But I didn't see--"

"And can you believe the driver won't even go just one more road over? People still live over there, you know, that's what I keep telling him."

Gina nodded, covering her confusion. She couldn't remember anyone who still lived on Old Fairview Drive.

"Anyway, never mind that. I wanted to ask you a favor." She glanced about and stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Look, you seem like someone who doesn't go running off at the mouth, you know?"

"Huh?"

Stephanie sighed. "Remember yesterday? When you said you knew about Jerry and me fucking? Hello!"

"Oh, yes, that. Um ... did it go okay?"

Stephanie beamed. "More than okay," she said in a husky voice. "Wow, it was good. In fact, that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh, you're going to have sex with him again?"

Stephanie smirked. "Nothing gets past you, huh? Yeah, we wanna go at it again. We're gonna try to do it again tonight, but it'll only be a quickie. We want more time to really get into it, you know? But he's gotta help his Dad do inventory at the auto repair place on Linwood tomorrow night, so we hafta do it in the afternoon. We're cutting our last class to make some time."

Gina's eyes widened, but she said nothing. She would not even think of doing something so heinous as cutting class.

"Look, I don't do that sorta thing, not normally. But this ... it's kinda hard to describe. I just hafta do this. It just felt so good that first time that I gotta go do it again. So I want you to get me the notes for that class."

"Oh, but ... but I couldn't ... I mean..."

Stephanie frowned. "Why the hell not?"

"Well, wouldn't that be like cheating?"

"Oh, don't go goodie-two-shoes on me, okay? Jesus, I'm just asking for the notes, not for you to take a test for me or something. I just need to know what that old bat Mrs. Phelps will be teaching. If she'd stick to the damn textbook, I could just--"

"Mrs. Phelps?"

"Not again," Stephanie muttered. "Yes, I said Mrs. Phelps. Old lady with curly white hair and glasses that make her look like an owl. American History. Ringing any bells?"

Gina had no idea who Stephanie was talking about, but decided to concentrate on Stephanie's immediate concern. "I don't have her for history, I have--"

"You don't?"

"Maybe I can give you my notes anyway?"

Stephanie waved a hand. "Nah, forget it. I'll have to get it from someone else. Well, thanks for nothing."

Stephanie's hips seesawed past Gina, heels clicking. Gina watched as Stephanie reached the intersection and turned down the little dirt road towards Old Fairview. Gina wondered just how Stephanie would manage the soft dirt in those heels when the girl vanished as she passed a large bush. Gina dashed towards the corner expecting to see the girl sprawled in the dirt.

No one was there. She lifted her eyes and flinched. The road was deserted as well.

Gina stared, her mind trying to make sense of two competing realities. The deadlock was broken when she remembered Victor's task to her, to reflect on what she had learned in his office. That was more important.

Heat simmered in her pussy as she ran towards her house.

"It sounds more like he might be giving it to the Darkness rather than having it taken it from him," said Jason as he finished dressing.

"But then who was the dude fightin'?" Ned asked.

Diane finished dressing first, not wishing to appear naked before so many people now that her lust had cooled. "And what about that stuff about obeying your master?"

Melinda gasped, poised to pull her shirt over her head. "Unless he can control the Darkness!"

"Not very well from the way Heather said he was shoutin'," Ned quipped.

Jason finished buttoning his shirt and shook his head. "No, that's not it. No one controls the Darkness."

"How would you know that, Jason?" Cassie asked. "I know you can see patterns in the Auras that tell you if someone is directly enslaved or--"