Chapter 64

Heather was a wet, squirming mess. Fourteen times now she had to do her dance for incoming guests. At least three times she had seen them pull out cell phones and natter about her to their friends. She suspected that some were arriving forewarned.

Now she faced Brad and wanted to crawl away and die. Or crawl back to Ms. Bendon and beg her to lift the trigger. Or plead with her to just let her cum.

"Good evening," Heather began, her voice in a permanent quaver from her strained arousal.

Brad stared, eyes wide. "Wow, Heather, you look--"

"I'm your dancing harem girl," Heather continued, losing the fight to hold back the words. The sultry cadence of her voice never faltered despite her efforts. "Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you to help you enjoy the party."

Brad grinned. "Heh, you know, I'd usually take you up on that offer, but I have other plans."

Heather gave him a simple, pleasant smile and looked at Gina. If this had been as little as a week ago, she would not have believed anyone wearing such an outfit could have gotten within fifty feet of the school. Heather thought her own costume was sexy, but Gina's was slutty. As heads turned and eyes stared, Heather could be content that she was no longer the center of attention.

It did not stop Brad's eyes from roaming over Heather's body one more time, a lascivious grin curling his lips. "Still, you look great in that, Heather."

"It feels incredibly sexy on me," Heather said in a lusty voice. Any compliment on her looks was another trigger and received another scripted response. Her pussy rose in wet pleasure, her hips writhing.

"Heh, yeah, it really does. See ya later."

Heather smiled again, then let out a ragged sigh when he and Gina had departed. God, I can't take this much longer, she thought. She combed her trembling fingers through her hair and looked at the clock. Ms. Bendon had required her to remain for an hour past the start of the party. She had another twenty minutes to go.

Jason saw the party live down to every one of his expectations: the music was all recent popular songs that he did not like or did not recognize; it was too crowed and noisy; other students made him the butt of their jokes concerning his presence or his costume; Melinda pestered him to dance with her once just so she "wouldn't feel left out" while claiming in her next breath that she didn't normally go for such "bubbleheaded girlie" things.

He had claimed that he had to watch Diane, who sat content and quiet in a chair nearby, sipping soda from a styrofoam cup. In reality, he simply had to order her to stay there and she would obey. She needed no warden. She was the Harbingers' slave. No one else would be able to command her.

An opening in the crowd allowed Jason to catch a glimpse of Cassie and Ned, now on their third dance. Cassie's moves were not paced to the tempo of the music, and her attempts to correct them were clumsy at best. Ned's dance moves could best be described as a gangly orangutan hyped on caffeine. Other students had backed off to a loose semicircle, laughing and hurling jokes and snide comments.

Neither Cassie nor Ned seemed to care. Jason could almost believe they were having fun.

Jason had never factored "fun" into any of the plans for the evening. He wanted to rail at them for daring to consider acting in anything less than stark seriousness.

The edge of a wing brushed his arm, and he heard a snort. "Does Ned realize how dorky he looks?" Melinda said.

"I don't think he cares," Jason said.

"Like you do, huh?"

Jason gave her a tired look.

"So sorry, Mr. Nerd," she said in an icy voice as she backed away. "Guess you're the only one in the whole fucking school that has to worry about looking stupid."

Jason grasped her arm. "Hey, wait, please." She resisted for a moment before letting him draw her back. "I'm sorry. I just ... I just don't like these things."

"Yeah, well, join the club." She looked around. "I just figured if we're here, we might as well join in."

"That's unlike you."

Melinda shrugged. "I'm supposed to be less whiny and not complain as much, remember? That's supposed to be a sign of maturity."

"Is that what Heather told you?"

"Come on, Jason, it's what everyone in the group thinks."

Jason would not deny that, but nor would he risk obvious agreement.

Melinda folded her arms. "I just want to stop feeling like I'm at this party by myself."

"You're not." Jason looked towards the other dancers, his stomach twisting. "I've never done this. I mean--"

"Like I have? Oh yeah, I'm the great Haven High socialite, uh-huh. You're lucky I could squeeze this relationship on my social calendar."

Jason began to smirk when the wording of her comment reached his brain. He had never heard her use a word like "relationship" to describe them. Now he wasn't sure how to react, or if he should react at all.

Jason looked at Melinda's face. Was she blushing? It was hard to tell in the subdued lighting.

"Anyway, " Melinda said, flustered. "Yeah, we're both wallflowers. Deal."

Jason's stomach churned, as if he were about to give a speech before the whole school. "Um ... all right, maybe I can--"

Melinda grabbed his arm and hauled him into the throng.

"Wait, Melinda, what about Diane?"

"Diane, stay there until we get back," Melinda called out without stopping. "That's an order. Got it?"

Diane's response of "yes, Mistress" was lost in the din of the crowd.

Richie was doing his best to remain unnoticed. He could be content with the fact that he had to turn down several offers from girls to dance with him. With the last one, he had entertained thoughts far more intimate. His lascivious thoughts had been rewarded by an interested glance, followed by a blush and a flustered look before she scurried away.

Yeah, I gotta be careful about that. The tone of his thought, however, suggested he wanted to be anything but careful.

He was not at fault, so he believed. The energy from the spell was still raging in his head, begging to be used. It only exacerbated his desire for control.

Yeah, don't worry, I'm not gonna be stupid, Richie thought for the benefit of his "conscience."

His thoughts were interrupted by the now contemptuous sound of heels clicking against the floor. With the noise of the party, she was upon him only seconds after he heard her footfalls, too late to consider ducking into the crowd.

"Two weeks, Mr. Gardner," said Terri.

Terri folded her arms under her breasts, pushing them up further and distracting Richie for a few moments. He forced his eyes to her face. "Two weeks for what?" he said, though he could guess.

"Your detention, for failing to report to me after you were done with your last task."

"I tried to find you, but it's really crowded in here, Ms. Hollis."

"Mr. Gardner, just because I happen to be blonde, do not assume that I act as your tiny mind thinks blondes should act."

One of Richie's hands clenched.

Terri smiled and stepped up to Richie. "If anyone is going to be mindless, it will be you. Would you like to spend those two weeks as a mindless slave to my pussy?"

Richie ground his teeth. Power seethed and throbbed in his head, along with the echo of his father's voice: don't do it, unless you really want to fuck things up.

"Or maybe you want a little taste right now of what it would like."

Richie gave her a venomous look, even as his eyes wanted to drift down towards her legs. Terri's smile widened, and she shifted one foot to the side, parting her legs. His gaze centered on her crotch as her hips tilted to one side.

He licked his lips. He could almost smell her. Despite all his gripes about her, she was still a woman, and a sexy one, too. He'd love to have a piece of that. He could lick her all day if...

Raw power suddenly slammed against Terri's invading thoughts, rejecting her reality. She staggered as if she had run full tilt into a brick wall. In that split second, Richie wanted to push further, to barrel past Terri's defenses in her moment of weakness. He wanted to make her drop to her knees in front of him and suck his cock. He wanted to make her the dumb bitch that she just claimed she wasn't.

He managed to slam the gate shut at the last moment. All his thoughts roiled and churned in his own mind only, conveyed by nothing more than his blistering gaze.

Terri's lips twisted into a humorless smirk. "My, my. Such power you wield. So is that why all your little friends are here? To protect each other from me? The only reason I don't have Heather simpering at my feet is because Laura wanted her tonight, and she outranks me." Her grin widened. "Or have you some daring plan of rescue for your friend? Was that your plan, to build up whatever power you wield so you can rescue the damsel in distress from the evil clutches of the villain?"

Richie said nothing. He cursed himself for revealing too much. He could have pushed her back without such an obvious display of power if he had controlled his anger first.

Terri lowered a finger until it hovered an inch from his chest. "Don't get any ideas tonight, and that goes for you and your friends. Perhaps you forget that Laura and I have a partnership."

Richie clamped his jaw shut until it ached. You don't have SHIT with her, you fucking lying bitch, he thought.

"You cross either of us, and you cross both of us. Anyone who does will become a mindless sex toy. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Ms. Hollis," said Richie. You skanky slut, he added in his head.

Terri peered towards the entrance to the auditorium. "I have no more tasks for you. Make sure you bring back what I said to the others."

Richie remained in place until Terri was gone, then thrust his fist through a nearby cardboard cutout of a ghost, startling several nearby students.

"What the fuck are you staring at?!" Richie shouted at them. He kicked the cutout and stomped away as it clattered to the floor.

At first, Cassie had agreed to dance with Ned as a means of distracting her from her own anguished thoughts. The image of Stephanie sitting alone in that great void waiting for it to obliterate her from reality was too much to bear.

To her surprise, it became less of a chore and more of a joy. Ned did not know the first thing about dancing, but he didn't seem to care. In response to the barbs from their peers, his movements became even more insane until it was unclear whether they were making fun of him or simply joining in his mirth.

Cassie began laughing at Ned's antics as well, encouraging him even further. She was taking some flak as well, as this was nothing like ballroom dancing. Cassie was only ten when her mother insisted she start taking lessons so she knew how to exhibit the proper poise and grace in front of others.

The thought that her mother would have gone insane to see her daughter like this prompted her to stay for three songs rather than only the one to which she had agreed.

She was grateful to see Jason and Melinda finally venture forth, but her heightened empathy told her more about them than she believed she had a right to know. Melinda had fallen in love with Jason. Hard. Jason's feelings were a jumble, which meant he did not know what he felt.

Cassie still felt reassured. In some ways, they were still typical teenagers with the same problems as everyone else. Cassie's quiet rebellion against her parents added to the illusion of normalcy.

Near the end of the third song, Cassie's steps faltered when she felt a mental tug at the back of her mind. A gap in the crowd allowed her to catch a glimpse of the auditorium entrance.

She rushed over to Ned. "Ned? Ned, stop for a minute!"

Ned stumbled in his attempt to bring his current dance move to an abrupt close, prompting laughter behind him. He growled at them, "Arr, matey, let's see ya bilge rats do better when yer walkin' the plank! Arr!" He turned to Cassie amidst a small spate of applause behind him. "And what may I do fer the foine galley wench?"

"Ned, I just saw Gina arrive," Cassie said. "I think Brad was with her."

Ned dropped back into his normal voice. "Okay, do ya wanna tell Jason 'bout this? He an' her li'l fairy girlfriend jus' sashayed thataways," he said, pointing.

"It's probably too early to do anything yet, but, yes, we should..." Cassie trailed off. Her eyes widened. "Oh, goodness, did you--?"

"Yeah, I felt it," Ned grumbled. "Crap, I guess we shoulda kept an eye on Richie, too."

Cassie gasped. "I've never felt Richie so angry before!"

"That ain't anger, that's about-to-chew-steel fury."

"I can see it. It's directed at Ms. Hollis! Oh, no, we have to find him before he does something we'll all regret!"

Ned grasped Cassie's shoulders. "Wait, whoa, calm down, babe. I think Richie's gonna keep a lid on it."

"But you heard all his talk about wanting to take Ms. Hollis down. I'm not saying he wants to be mean, just that he sometimes lets his anger get the best of him."

"Well, it looks like the calvary is here, anyway," Ned said as Jason and Melinda rushed up to them. "Ya felt it, too, right?"

"Richie? Yeah," Jason said. "Damn, where the hell is he?"

"Ms. Hollis tried to do something to him!" Melinda said. "I sensed it when it happened, just like I did with Heather. Oh, that bitch! I'm going to be sooo glad when we get to do it to her!"

"Oh, no, not you, too!" Cassie said.

"Cassie, that woman is evil, just like Ms. Bendon. She screws with people just because she can."

Cassie sighed, not knowing how to respond. Half the Harbingers seemed hell-bent on revenge, and the other half tacitly accepted it, with her caught in the middle.

She could see a bit of hypocrisy if she let herself. She accepted Diane as their slave at the same time she spoke out against using Ms. Hollis. Yet the thought that something was wrong with that arrangement was too slippery for her to hold.

"I don't think this is the time or the place to argue about it," Jason said. "We agreed we would do this, and we're doing it only to defend ourselves against Victor."

"So when do we make our move, kemosabe?" Ned asked.

"We're going to need Heather. Is she still at the door greeting people?"

"Until the top of the hour, so she told me," said Cassie. "I saw Gina arrive with Brad. But even if I hadn't seen her, I can sense her."

"Would you know if she left here with Victor?"

"Yes, I think so."

"We gotta nail 'im here!" Ned said.

"No, we are not 'nailing' anybody," Jason said in irritation. "We're freeing Gina and keeping the Book from Victor. Cassie, do you think you'll be ready soon to help Gina break away from him?"

Cassie had not expected the question and took a moment to respond. "I-I don't know. I have to give Stephanie a chance to help Gina. Or rather, the new Gina."

"Huh?" Melinda said, perplexed.

"Gina's resistance has a problem. She has no identity, no memories, nothing to hold on to. Stephanie was going to try to help her with that. I set it up so they can talk to each other. But, Jason, what about Richie? Should we go and--"

"Wait, there he is!" Melinda cried.

Richie burst out of the crowd. "Guys, if you're gonna take that bitch Hollis down, you're gonna have to do it real soon."

"What now?" Melinda piped. "Shit, what the hell did you do to her?"

"Nothing, pipsqueak. Not yet, anyway."

"But she tried to control you! Didn't you fight back?"

"What the fuck, Melinda? First you're pissed I did something and now you're pissed I didn't? Yeah, I kicked her sorry ass out of my head, but I didn't do anything else. But she's starting to get suspicious now."

Jason looked at his watch. "We're going to have to wait at least another fifteen minutes. We better stick together from this point on. Is Ms. Hollis done with you for the evening, Richie?"

"Yeah, the skank's done with me," Richie grunted.

"Jason, I can go tell Heather that we'll need her as soon as she's done," Cassie said.

"Okay, thanks, Cassie," said Jason. "Meet us over by the soda table."

Cassie nodded and headed away, but faltered and shuddered to a stop. She gasped as her pussy throbbed for a few more seconds before her sudden, phantom orgasm faded. Did Heather just cum? No, that wasn't from her, it ... oh my...

"Something wrong, babe?" Ned called out.

Cassie shook her head and continued onward, though her cheeks were faintly pink.

Debby could not recall feeling more embarrassed. Her cheeks flaming, she pulled her hand out from under her panties, plucking a few tissues from her purse with her free hand.

She tried to tell herself that she was not used to so much raw sexual emotion coming at her with no way to block it. Pleasure had risen and retreated in Debby's pussy in sync with Heather, leaving her squirming and wet with unsatisfied need. After the fifteenth time it had become unbearable, and she had to finish it herself.

And still her pussy ached from Heather's unrequited lust.

She finally realized the true extent of the corruption at the school. She wanted to withdraw her daughter and home-school her for the remainder of her high school years, but she expected that Susan would never go for it. Susan was making friends again (the right friends this time), and ceased to be so self-centered. Debby did not want to risk spoiling her daughter's recovery.

Debby felt that some of the fault lay with her, that she had let Susan go down the wrong path. She was determined not to make the same mistake with the Harbingers. Despite what she had told Jason, she could not stop being a mother, and a mother had a responsibility to protect her children.

No one was in more need of protecting than Diane.

Debby understood her better now. Without the fog of Victor's forced reality, she could see things the other Harbingers could not.

Debby suspected that Diane's submissive tendencies were not quite this powerful before the Harbingers. With so many dominant personalities around her, she had little reason to break out of the mold. Victor had only to exploit that vulnerability and push her into the role of a full slave.

Freeing Diane would not be enough. She would require counseling if she wanted to avoid falling into the same trap again. Debby felt she was the only one of the Harbingers that had a chance of helping Diane without dominating her.

Cassie emerged from the crowd near the entrance and shuddered to a stop. At the door of the auditorium was Victor Mann.

Cassie had edged backwards when Victor saw her and smiled. Cassie's heart thumped, and she felt guilty that she had almost left Heather to face him alone. She mustered her courage and strode forward.

She arrived in time to hear the tail end of Heather's programmed spiel. "Very kind of you, Heather, but I have pledged not to interfere with Laura's little projects here at the school," replied Victor in a smooth and assured voice. "While I can guess what Laura would like me to say to trigger you, I have other business to conduct tonight." His eyes shifted to Cassie. "I am sure you know what."