Chapter 67

"Ooo, spooky place," Terri burbled, her wide-eyed gaze sweeping the hallway that stretched from the bottom of the narrow stone stairway.

Jason nudged his glasses back up his nose and touched one of the walls. "The bedrock runs close to the surface on this side of town," Jason said, a tone of awe to his voice. "Someone must have had to blast right into it to carve out some of these passages. I'd love to know how they did this without anyone knowing. Or if they even did it themselves. Maybe this predates Victor's cult and--"

"Look, nerd-out on your own time, okay?" Richie said. His hand rested against the round bulge in his pocket. "We gotta find Victor and kick his ass."

"I'm not picking up any more visions," Heather said. "I have no idea what's ahead of us."

"But the main vision hasn't changed?" Jason asked.

Heather shook her head. "Not at all."

Debby peered down the hallway. "Wait, I think I just heard something."

Everyone fell silent. Just as Richie was about to declare his impatience again, they all heard it: faint words of power that hung heavy in the air like thick smoke.

"That sounds like a Book spell," Ned said.

Melinda trembled. "I-It's a chant. It's what they kept saying to me over and over when they had me tied up. Well, almost. The ending is a little different."

"What'd it do ta ya?"

"It made me so horny I couldn't breathe," Melinda said in a tiny voice.

"Is it doing that now?" Debby asked.

Melinda shook her head. "No, it's just ... I didn't need to be reminded of that."

"They started the ceremony," Jason said. "We have to move. Terri should be up front."

"Yay!" Terri cried, clapping her hands. She trotted to the front and turned to face them. "Okay, like, what now?"

"Debby, stay in the back, please," Jason said. "He doesn't know you're part of the group yet, and I want to give him the impression you're not important. Bringing up the rear psychologically reinforces that idea."

"Heh, clever," Ned said. "Never woulda thought of that."

"I want to be near the front," Richie said.

Jason eyed Richie's hand. "Frankly, I don't think that baseball of yours is going to do any good right now."

"You never know, dude. Plus I gotta keep an eye on Terri the Bimbo here."

"But you'll only see my butt," Terri said. She blinked a few times, then giggled. "Ooo, I get it! You, like, wanna look at my butt!" She twisted her torso and glanced behind her. "I got a nice butt, huh?"

Richie smirked and slapped her ass. Terri yelped, then giggled again. "Yeah, all you need is some guy's cock in there."

"Ooo, yeah, you're, like, making my cunnie all wet again!"

Jason stood beside Richie. He gestured to Heather and Melinda, and they fell into place behind him and Richie. Ned drew Diane forward and behind the girls. Debby took position behind them. Richie looked at Terri and spun his finger in a circle. Terri bobbled her head and spun around, thrusting her ass towards Richie.

"All right," Jason said, his voice exhibiting a slight quaver for the first time. "Let's go."

As one, they marched down the hallway, their silence broken only by Terri's occasional soft giggle. As the archway drew closer, and they caught a glimpse of what lay beyond, even Terri subsided, her eyes widening. She knew it should be familiar to her, but her memories of it were part of all that clutter that Richie had so helpfully cleaned out for her. Besides, there were more fun things for her to think about, like her wet and needy pussy.

Melinda drew close behind Jason but resisted clinging to him. The chant was a lead weight settling around her shoulders. She did not believe it was affecting her mind, but the memory of her captivity made her knees weak, as if her body were still conditioned to kneel before a master or mistress. She flinched when Ned's hand touched her shoulder.

"Doin' okay?" Ned asked.

"No," Melinda said. "But I'll deal."

Heather squeezed her other shoulder. Melinda drew in a breath and let it go as a ragged sigh, grasping and squeezing her sister's hand in return.

A metallic sound tinkled in the distance as the entrance loomed. They emerged into the torchlight of the underground church and stopped, held not by fear but by the simple awe of what Victor had wrought. Only Melinda sought to avert her eyes from the macrocosm of her incarceration. She had not glimpsed the figure sprawled over the altar, yet she could guess who it was.

But the others stared in open wonder at the naked girl that now writhed in helpless, growing lust as she trembled until the chains rattled.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua!"

The chant caught most of the Harbingers by surprise, as if they had expected the entire ceremony to come to a screeching halt at their mere presence. Instead, they might not have existed. Gina arched her back and moaned, her nipples hardening and rising to points that the Harbingers could see from across the church.

Only then did they spot Victor. He stood just before the altar, his back to them, watching Gina's growing torment in silence. Two cult members hovered behind the altar. They bowed towards it, then one reached into his robes and withdrew a small flask.

Melinda gasped and retreated into Heather. "Ohmigod, the oil," she moaned, her own nipples and pussy pulsing with the searing memory.

The cultist raised the flask high. He turned one way, then the other, as if presenting it to the congregation for their blessing or approval. He held it out towards Victor, paused, then undid the stopper and bent over Gina's wriggling form.

"Krin'massra, " Victor's voice rang out.

The cultist looked up, hesitated, then straightened and stepped back. The others fell silent.

Victor strolled around the end of the altar. Gina whimpered as unrequited desire wracked her body. The two cultists parted for him as he took their position on the other side of the altar and looked towards the Harbingers. He smiled and took the flask from the cultist. "Melinda, you remember this, don't you?"

Melinda shivered and hid behind Jason.

"You remember what it did to you. How your pussy felt like it would melt if you didn't cum."

"I-It's not on me now," Melinda said in a feeble voice that she did not think would carry across the church.

"But once applied, Melinda, it never really quite goes away."

Melinda whimpered and squeezed her legs together.

"It can't be washed off. It can't be rubbed off. It's a part of you, and its power over you will not diminish. You only need to be reminded of that for it to work on you again."

Melinda clutched at Jason. Her nipples tingled and throbbed as they pressed into Jason's back. Her pussy pulsed with her racing heart.

"The oil is nothing," Jason declared, his voice unnaturally loud in the silent hall. "There's nothing to it. It only does what you make people think it will do. There's no magic to it. There never was."

Energy flowed over the link. Melinda's anxiety eased, her sexual heat fading. She let out a relieved sigh.

Victor chuckled. "Oh, very good. I see now. She's your shield against me."

Debby tensed until it was clear that his eyes rested on Terri.

Terri blinked back. She stared at Gina on the altar, the gears of her mind turning only slowly. "Oh, wow, that looks really kewl! Can I, like, be next? Huh? Pwease?"

Victor laughed. "Oh, so befitting an end for my wayward follower! I am tempted to leave her like that as a lesson to her. Alas, I will have to conceive of my own punishment."

He gestured. Four cultists surged towards the Harbingers, two men and two women.

Everyone tensed. Terri blinked and swayed. Through her, Richie felt the mental presence of the other cultists.

"No, you fucking don't, " Richie growled under his breath, his teeth clenching as he summoned their pooled power and thrust it into Terri.

The four cultists were upon her, two on each arm, pulling her away from the Harbingers. Terri recovered her wits and giggled. "Oh, kewl! Are we gonna go fuck now? You all wanna, like, fuck me, doncha?"

The cultists faltered. One man stopped and had to be pulled along by the other. The two women exchanged odd looks.

Terri squeezed her legs together. "Unng, I'm, like, sooo hot and squishy in my cunnie. Oh! Oh! And, like, my mouth's all tingly and stuff. Like I gotta suck something."

Richie's lips curled as all four cultists stopped.

Terri looked down, her eyes widening at the tented robe below a male cultist's waist. "Ooo, you're, like, getting all stiffy now!" She pulled an arm free and gripped his cock through the robe, and was rewarded by a low moan from her quarry. Terri gasped as she caught a flash of skin when the edge of the robe flapped open. She pulled it aside and squealed. "Ooo, you're, like, all naked under there!" She pulled her other arm free and dropped to her knees, her hand reaching under his robe, her fingers kneading his thick cock. "Mmm, this looks sooo good!"

Terri devoured his cock, drawing it deep into her mouth, her head bobbing. The cultist gasped and fell to his knees, moaning and trembling. Terri fell with him, her ass thrusting into the air. Her skirt and panties were yanked down her legs, and a moan burbled through her nose as a cock impaled her sopping cunt from behind.

The two women stared, pawing at their breasts and playing with their pussies as Terri's sexual heat boiled over onto them. Two more cultists came forward, a man and a woman. The man tried to pull away the one fucking Terri from behind. One of the women grabbed him and pulled him down to the floor, groping for his cock. When the other tried to pull her off, she was taken down as well, her robe parting as a wet tongue mashed against her pussy and subsumed her into the growing orgy.

Two more men ran into the fray. In less than a minute, their cocks were plunging into wet and willing pussies.

"Enough," Victor declared.

Several more cultists that had separated from the ranks now stopped and returned to their places in the lines. The eight cultists that had been caught by Terri's sexual hyperdrive fucked with abandon, the girls moaning and giggling, the guys thrusting their cocks into whatever willing holes presented themselves.

Victor's eyes slid to one side and then the other. While no one broke ranks further, at least a quarter of them were trembling or squirming. Faint, wet noises rose from between several female cultists' legs. Several men shuffled their feet, their cocks tenting their robes.

A slow, steeled breath emanated from Victor's nose, and some of the cultists' more obvious discomfort eased. He peered at the small orgy and sneered. "Very clever. But there are always the weak-minded in any group. They will be punished later for their lack of will."

"Bullshit," Richie muttered under his breath. He had noticed the reaction of the other cultists just as Victor had. He looked at Ned and saw him smirking.

Debby shared the least in their small moment of triumph. Richie had succeeded in reclaiming control of Terri only by her intervention. His willpower alone, even with the energy from the spell, had not been enough; she had to piggyback her own resistance on his. She was already feeling the strain.

Now Victor turned his attention to her, and she steeled herself against any overt reaction. She wanted to avert her eyes. Looking at him was like staring at a shell of a human being. The bands of his psychic aura that represented basic humanity had gone dark, as if burned out.

Victor's eyes finally slid from Debby. She gazed at the struggling form on the altar, and her heart ached. The bands in Gina's aura representing her sexuality were blinding and chaotic, spreading burning tendrils into the other bands.

"I am very disappointed in you, Jason," said Victor. His eyes flicked to the Book. "Was this show of bravado really necessary? Or was this to ease your conscience by claiming one last act of defiance?"

Jason said nothing. He wanted to keep Victor talking. He thought he had sensed something from Cassie over the link.

"Or perhaps you still wish to bargain with me."

Again, Jason remained silent. The Book quivered at the edge of his perceptions, and the bag twisted in his hand.

Victor smiled. "Renthri'massra."

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua!" rose the chant once more.

Melinda gasped, her eyes wide. Heather drew in her breath and trembled. Diane let out a slow, husky sigh, her eyes half-lidded. Debby's eyes widened as she felt the pressure against her mind, just as from Diane earlier, only far stronger. Her mind felt as if it were squeezed in a vise. She sensed what Victor and his cult were trying to do. She pretended to squirm and squeezed her thighs together.

"Jason!" Ned called out, gesturing towards the girls.

"No bargain, Jason," said Victor.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua!"

"Uhngg!" Melinda cried as her pussy ran hot. Heather moaned and hugged Melinda to her. Diane started to masturbate. Debby gave a convincing moan of lust. It was not difficult; she felt the intense arousal in her mind from the other girls.

"But I am a fair man," Victor said. "If you leave the Book and the pendant on the floor before you, right now, I will keep the girls for only a year. They will be released when I return to Haven next Halloween."

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua!"

Melinda fell to her knees. "Oh God, not again!"

Heather fell alongside her, her arm around Melinda's waist, her body tingling where it touched her sister. Diane spread her feet apart and plunged her fingers into her soaked pussy.

Debby swallowed. The pressure was intense. She slid her hand under her panties and pretended to masturbate. Both Richie and Ned were staring at her, silently urging her to do something. But she had sensed what Jason had; Cassie was about to...

Two things happened at once.

In Debby's mind, she could "see" the essence of the other Harbingers as lights or beacons that flickered and pulsed with life energy in patterns similar to their psychic auras. Cassie's essence novaed, power surging into it from the great pool of energy that swirled in a wide vortex around them.

At the same time, Gina's aura shuddered. The tendrils from her sexuality band shimmered and twisted, then whipped back and forth as if suddenly losing direction and focus.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa or--"

"KRIN'MASSRA!" Victor shouted.

Silence fell like lead plates, save for the wet sounds of sex in the far corner where Victor had abandoned his eight wayward cultists to Terri's insatiable sexual appetite.

Gina uttered a low moan. Her panting eased. Her squirming stilled.

Victor's eyes drilled the Harbingers.

"Where is Cassandra Kendall?"

The transition from the tiny plot of free will that New Gina had carved out for herself was abrupt. The front door of the "house" opened into a dark and dank corridor, where torches flickered on the walls, and the cold from the stones numbed their feet.

"I can't change it," Gina said. "I just tried."

Cassie placed her hand on Gina's shoulder. "It's okay. We'll have to make do. Where do we go?"

"Anywhere. Before you helped me make this safe area, I had to keep running to stop from being caught by the guards."

"Cassie, are you sure you understand what you have to do?" Stephanie said. "How you have to fight Victor's avatar?"

"I've never done something like this before, how could I possibly know?" Cassie retorted. She sighed. "I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm sorry. I'm a little on edge. I can see some of what's happening with my friends back in--"

"Shhh!" Gina suddenly hissed.

Cassie quieted, and she heard it as well: heavy, slow footsteps, and the clink of armor. She turned her head and pointed towards a hallway junction behind them. "It's coming from that way," she whispered. Her heart thumped louder than her voice.

Gina backed away, but Stephanie caught her arm. "No, don't run," Cassie said in a normal voice. "You can't run anymore."

Gina tried to squirm out of Stephanie's grip.

"Cassie, help me!" Stephanie said. "This has to be Gina's battle first."

Cassie paled at the fear she saw in Gina's eyes, but stepped forward and grasped Gina's other arm. "But she wanted me to--"

"You can back her up, but she has to take the lead. Please, both of you, just trust me on--"

Gina gasped, her eyes wide and terrified as she stared between Cassie and Stephanie.

A figure stood in the junction, leather and metal wrapped around featureless black. One gauntleted hand held a shield that gleamed silver in the torchlight. Its other hand lay against a scabbard at its waist.

Ice crawled up Cassie's spine. No face lay under its centurion helmet, just more of the same unfathomable black. It had form and substance like darkness crystallized, yet held the essence of nothingness. The more she stared at it, the more she felt herself falling into it like a bottomless pit.

She wrenched her gaze away. "Don't look directly at its face!"

"Is this Victor's avatar?" Gina asked, her voice somewhere between curiosity and fear.

"It is and it isn't," said Stephanie. "It's a piece of it."

The guard gripped the hilt of its sword, and the air trembled at the sound of sliding steel. It leveled its sword at Gina.

"All shall bow to the Master."

The words were not spoken. Instead, reality was warped inside their minds so that the words became part of their perception. The words were always there, and did not need to be spoken. The experience was so disconcerting to Cassie that she uttered a tiny whimper.

The guard stepped forward, pointing his sword at Gina. Stephanie stepped back. "Cassie, come here."

Cassie only clung to Gina tighter.

"You will subsume your will to the Master."

Gina shuddered. "No," she said in a weak voice. She took a deep breath and let it go. "No!" she shouted.

The guard stopped, and his sword dipped.

"Cassie!" Stephanie hissed.

Cassie swallowed hard and started to pull away. Gina grabbed Cassie's hand and would not let go. Cassie bit her lip; this was tearing her up. She extricated herself from Gina's grip and stepped to the side.

Gina's eyes shimmered as they gazed up at the guard. His sword rose again. "You trespass upon the domain of the Master."

"This ... th-this is my mind!" Gina cried. "You have no right to--"

The guard advanced and raised his sword. "All that is here is the domain of the Master. You will subsume yourself to the Master."

Gina whimpered and stumbled back.

"Gina, fight him!" Stephanie shouted. "Cassie, channel something into Gina, give her power to stop him!"

"I-I'll try!" Cassie cried.

Cassie touched the link. For a moment she was overcome by the sensations that flooded over her from the other girls. Victor was attacking them, and Debby had yet to fend him off. Or perhaps she could not resist him after all, and it was all for naught.

No, Cassie thought. Calm down. Just do this.

The energy flowed into her with ease and a sense of delight, pooling inside her own mind as fiery liquid swirling inside a huge cauldron. She imagined herself dipping her cupped hands into the brew and pouring the concoction over Gina.

"All that cannot be subsumed to the Master will be destroyed."

The guard brought his sword down in a single, vicious stroke.

The only thing that stopped Cassie's scream was the ear-splitting clang of metal against metal, and a spark that lighted the walls in blue-white brilliance. The guard withdraw a step.

In Gina's hands was a sword.

Gina appeared as surprised as the guard for a second, then swung her sword as hard as she could. He parried it this time, and then again with increasing ease. Gina's next blow resounded off his shield, her sword shaking like a tuning fork and almost tumbling out of her grip.

The guard's next stroke knocked the sword from Gina's hands. She stumbled back and fell to the floor.

"All that cannot be subsumed to the Master will be destroyed." The guard raised his sword for the killing blow.

Power exploded in Cassie's psyche, and she surged forward before she knew what she was doing. Steel clashed once more against steel. With a grunt, Cassie pushed the guard back, energy pulsing through her as she swung her sword a second time, knocking the shield out of the guard's hand.

The guard parried her next blow, and Cassie reeled. He followed through with his own stroke, but she deflected it and struck once more, his sword clattering against the stone wall as it separated from his grip.

The guard fell back. Panting hard, Cassie stopped and stared, as if only realizing now what she had just done.

"Cassie, your clothes..." Stephanie murmured, eyes wide.

Cassie looked down at herself. The wench outfit she had on when she had first arrived -- little more than a mental convenience -- had morphed into a sort of chain-mail armor. "Sort of" was the key term, as it covered little more than a bikini would. She recognized it now; it was from a movie that Ned had taken her to see on one of their dates.

"Cassie, don't let it get away!" Stephanie shouted.

The guard started to turn. Before Cassie could react, Gina dashed by, the sword in her hands again. The guard had not taken more than a step when Gina plunged her sword into its back.

Cassie screamed, but the expected blood and gore did not materialize. The guard made a sound like steam escaping and fell towards the floor. He vanished into black smoke before he hit, Gina's sword falling to the stones.

A roar rolled through the corridor. The floor trembled and twisted under her feet. Cassie stumbled and fell back, her sword flying from her hand and plunging into a snowbank.

Snow? Cassie thought just as she landed in several inches of white, fluffy powder.

Cassie looked around in astonishment. Where the walls of the corridor once stood, two lines of bare aspens marched as silent sentinels in a landscape of winter majesty. Snow drifted down in large, pretty flakes through the tranquil air.

Cassie looked at the others. Gina stared, wide-eyed with surprise and wonder. "This ... this is the road outside my house," she breathed. "The one that leads to Old Fairview."

"Yes, it is," Stephanie said, smiling.

"You mean we did it?!" Gina cried. Her exultation faded. "No, we didn't, not yet. I can still sense his control." She looked around and pointed. "Over there, between those trees, I can see a stone doorway and a dungeon passage beyond it."