Chapter 28

Cassie bolted upright in bed, clutching the blanket to her body like a shield, trembling in the terror she had no time to feel while escaping. She ran a trembling hand through her hair and squeezed her legs against the lingering ache of desire. She looked at her arms and down her torso, letting out a ragged sigh when she saw no wisp of an Aura.

She dropped the blanket and swung her legs over the side of the bed. At least several hours remained before dawn, but she was far too wired to sleep. Cassie headed into the bathroom and prepared herself some tea. Her heart still thundered, not so much in remaining fear but at the implications.

She had to hold the handle of the teapot with both hands to steady it. She leaned against the frame of the door and shivered at her own thoughts. What would have happened if that man had successfully ensnared her? Would her tether break? Would it have still pulled her back and wrenched her from his influence?

Or would she have returned still enchanted, desperate for his sexual attentions?

One implication, however, was clear: if the Darkness did not know about the extent of her Projection ability before, it did now.

Jason rolled onto his side and groaned, his hand shading his eyes from the morning light as he struggled to break loose from the erotic dream which had snagged him just before waking. He pushed his legs off the side of the bed and sat up, his cock tenting his briefs and pulsing with his heartbeat.

He wished Cindy were there. She could give him a really nice blowjob and take care of this hard-on. He shook his head until he could push away the desire far enough to think of something else.

Like how he was going to get out of the house without encountering his mother.

Sometime before dawn he had been awakened by the sound of the garage door and the squeal of tires against concrete. He assumed his father had been called to the hospital for an emergency. He had wanted to get up and quietly get ready for school, but sleep had overcome him again. That was when he had fallen into the throes of the dream.

Jason stood and heard his mother in the hall. He dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him, though he wondered how long it would be before even the bathroom door would not stop her.

Or before Jason decided he wanted to leave it open for her.

Jason shook his head and ran the shower. He stripped off his briefs, his cock bobbing. His erection had not abated, and the more he stared at it, the more he could feel Cindy's warm lips wrapped around it.

He raised his head and stood before the bathroom mirror, staring at the outline of his body. He thought he saw a wisp of Aura, but it was gone when he tried to study the pattern. He gave up when steam billowed from the shower.

Jason managed to masturbate himself to a decent orgasm while in the shower, but it alleviated only the immediate need. He still enjoyed the fact that he had a girl who wanted to suck only his cock, and that he could take advantage of it at any time. It made him look forward to going to the Inn.

"That must be it," he told his reflection as he dried himself off. "To make me want to go to the Inn every day."

Jason opened the door a crack and peered into his room. The door to the hall was open. He sighed as he realized that in his rush to get away from his mother, he had forgotten to take any fresh clothing with him.

Jason nudged the door open further, looked around once more, then dashed to his dresser. At once he heard his mother ascending the stairs. In a mad rush, he donned his briefs and yanked his jeans up to his waist just as his mother stepped onto the threshold and lounged against the door frame.

Audrey gave him a sultry smile. "Good morning, Jason," she said in a soft voice.

"Morning, Mom," Jason said in as neutral a voice as he could muster. He turned away to button and zip his jeans, his cock stirring despite his recent orgasm. "Um, I'm in kind of a hurry. I, uh, want to get an early start."

Jason knew it made no sense since the bus arrived at the same time every day, but it gave him an excuse to rush about and pay little attention to his mother.

"I never got a chance to ask you last night, since your father kept changing the subject," Audrey said. "But how is your job going?"

Jason looked at her. She smiled back, sliding one hand along the door frame as if caressing it. She arched her back and let her breasts swell against her blouse, an older one which was one size down from her present measurements. The buttons were stretched, the full curve of one breast visible between the gaps.

"It's fine, Mom," Jason said in a dismissive tone as he put on his shirt. "Just fine."

"Is that it?"

Jason dashed to his backpack while he was still buttoning his shirt. "It's a job," he said without looking up. "Not sure what else I can say about it."

"Are they teaching you anything important?"

Jason packed his backpack and pretended to have trouble arranging its contents. "Um, not sure what you mean."

"Anything practical," his mother said, and Jason raised his eyes just enough to see her take one step into the room. "Anything you can use around the house?"

Jason looked up and wished he hadn't when he saw her dark, desirous eyes and glistening lips. "I-I don't..."

Audrey took another step forward, swinging her hips. "Your job title is managerial assistant. So they're teaching you how to manage things." She smiled. "How to manage people."

Jason swallowed, his heart pounding. He tore his gaze away long enough to stuff the remaining notebooks into his backpack. "Yeah, I guess you could call it that," he said in a low voice. He thought of Cindy, and his cock twitched.

"If you ever need practice, Jason..." his mother said in a trailing, husky voice.

His sensibilities had not been corrupted enough to avoid the revulsion her unspoken suggestion triggered, and he used it to push back any lingering arousal. His cock still tingled, but he could ignore it.

He risked looking into his mother's face. She leaned forward and cradled his face in her hands. "You're going to do very well, I just know it. And then we'll both be better for it."

Her lips touched his, and Jason felt flushed, his cock swelling. He pulled back before it could go too far, stumbling and forcing him to grab the backpack to steady himself.

"I gotta go," Jason said in a strained voice as he grabbed his backpack and dashed around his mother.

He covered the distance between the bedroom and the top of the stairs at a dead run, nearly pitching himself forward when he tried to stop. He stumbled down the first few steps and recovered just as his mother stepped into the hall. "I'm really excited about this opportunity, Jason," Audrey said. She let out a slow, husky sigh and added, "Really excited."

Jason clamped down hard on his emotions as be barreled out the door.

Heather yawned as she pulled on her jeans, then rubbed her grainy eyes before she grabbed her shirt. She wished she had developed a taste for coffee. Several hours had passed last night before she had finally drifted off to sleep, her mind too restless with a lack of ideas as to what to procure for Richie.

Upon arriving home after her tryst with Diane, Aunt Jo had been busy with Melinda, and her mother had not come home yet. She had wandered the master bedroom for a time, but nothing appeared to be over five or ten years old. Even if she had found something, it was likely an item her mother rarely carried, or it would not have been there for Heather to find.

She had found a photo album in one of the dresser drawers, but it went back only ten years. She did notice that her mother often wore a heart-shaped pendant, but it had disappeared from the most recent photos of the last year or two.

Melinda burst out of the bathroom, wisps of steam trailing behind her. She ran her hands through her hair and let it spill down her back. Heather's gaze lingered, noting that Melinda's hair extended almost to the small of her back. Generally she kept it trimmed to mid-back.

Her eyes slipped down and over her sister's ever more shapely posterior. Melinda bent over an open dresser drawer, and Heather watched Melinda's plump boobs dangle under her. In her mind's eye she saw her little sister slipping on a pair of very special panties and doing a wonderful little sensual dance for her.

Heather blinked rapidly and shook her head. She was about to force her gaze away from Melinda when she saw her sister pull something white and silken from the drawer. Had Aunt Jo rescinded her order about not wearing panties?

Melinda dispelled the mystery when she sat on the edge of her bed and unfolded the sheer material, lifting her leg and bending her foot towards it.

"White stockings?" Heather asked.

Melinda glanced at her sister, and her cheeks became pink. "Aunt Jo wants me to wear them all the time now." She paused, trembled, and added in a breathy voice, "It makes me look like an innocent schoolgirl even though we all know how slutty I am."

Heather sighed. "Sorry."

Melinda shook her head as she pulled the stocking into place. She ran her hands along the smooth material in a slow, sensual glide, uttering a husky sigh with the words, "Forget it."

The renewed sense of sympathy for Melinda's plight helped push back Heather's illicit desires. "Something I don't understand, Melinda. I didn't think that trigger about older women would make you do all this."

Melinda pulled on the other stocking, sliding it up her leg in a single smooth movement, uttering another breathy sigh. "Mom isn't exactly helping, either," she said, the sharpness of her remark cut by the sultry overtone in her voice. "She practically gave me to Aunt Jo."

Failure now had a greater sting to Heather. She had to find something to give Richie. She had no idea if it would make any difference to Melinda's plight, but it was better than doing nothing, and it helped prevent her from taking another unwanted action.

Heather touched the bulge in her pocket, caressing it with her fingertips, her next breath coming out as a tiny, husky sigh. The struggle became more difficult when Melinda stood and squirmed for a few moments before she gathered her other clothes. Before her jeans were pulled up her legs, Heather spotted glistening moisture in her sister's shaved pussy.

Melinda gave her a cross look. "What's the matter?"

Heather blinked. "Huh?"

"What're you staring at me like that for?"

"I wasn't ... I mean, I'm sorry. I wish I could help more."

Melinda paused. "Just worry about yourself," she said in a low voice.

Heather was a bit surprised by that reply and wondered if Melinda had indeed matured more than she had thought. At least that's what she hoped; the alternative was that her sister had been beaten down so far she no longer expected anything better.

Melinda yanked her top over her bare breasts. She pulled her hair out from under it as she started towards the bed, glancing down as her breasts danced under her shirt. "God, I wish these things hadn't gotten so fucking big," she muttered as she hauled her backpack onto her bed.

"I guess you inherited that from Mom's side of the family."

"Like I want anything from her," Melinda muttered in a low voice.

Heather turned towards the dresser and retrieved a sweater. "Can't really control that, runt."

She turned back in time to see Melinda whirl towards her. "What about how big they got just in the last month or so? That's not normal!"

Heather almost made a snarky comment about Jason not minding one bit but stopped herself in time. "I don't know. Really, I don't."

"I do. It's all Mom's fault."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"It has to be her! She's making them grow faster."

"That's ridiculous, Melinda."

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"I ... We've never seen that before," said Heather. "No one controlled by the Darkness had their boobs get bigger."

"That we know of, you mean."

Heather rolled her eyes and donned her sweater. "Fine, Melinda. You want to find new and interesting ways to hate Mom, go ahead. Just leave me out of it." She grabbed her backpack and swung the strap over her shoulder. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Heather was almost to the door when Melinda rushed over to her. "No, wait, Heather!"

Heather spun around. "What now?"

Melinda's eyes shimmered. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "Please, don't be angry with me."

Heather sighed and hugged Melinda. "I'm not angry with you, really. I just ... there's only so much hate I can take, you know?"

Melinda buried her face in Heather's shoulder. "I-I'm really scared at what I'm going to see when I get on the bus this morning."

Heather closed her eyes and hugged her sister tighter. "Yeah, so am I."

"Jason was the only thing I had left."

"Hang in there, Melinda," Heather said, even though she knew it would sound trite to her if their roles were reversed. "Please. Don't give in to it. We've come too far without falling."

Heather struggled to find solace in her own words. They had indeed fallen to some degree, just not far enough to be considered complete slaves to the Darkness. She had to remind herself that it still influenced them only by proxy, that it still could not reach them enough to take complete control.

It all hinged on Jason not falling to it, as he could strike at them directly. You have to find something in that journal, Ned, she thought. We're all depending on it.

"Nada, babe," Ned said, the last word coming at the start of a tremendous yawn. "Nil. Nein. Nothing."

Cassie sighed, her grip on Ned's arm tightening as they strolled down the street outside Ned's home. She looked at him and paused. "Are you all right?"

"Underachieved in the sleeping department last night," Ned said as he rubbed a bleary eye. "Was up ta the wee hours readin' the journal, and then I jus' kept seein' the pages in my head when I closed my eyes."

"You didn't learn anything at all?"

Ned would have sensed the tension in Cassie's voice were he more alert. "Jus' that the life of a witch who ain't doin' anything ta fight the Grand Dark Poobah is bloody boring. Only thing I really noticed was her writin' is inhumanly neat."

"What do you mean?"

"Not that ol' Lizzie ever wrote like a doctor, but when I compare the stuff I'm readin' ta what she wrote before, she musta been usin' some sorta plus-one Holy Pen of Penmanship. Ya could only get any neater if ya used a typewriter."

"But maybe that means something. You said the pages looked different, like she used a different brand of paper."

Ned nodded and waited for another yawn to pass before he spoke again. "Yeah, an' it looks newer. It ain't yellowed as much as the stuff before it."

"Ned, what if she rewrote part of her journal later on?" Cassie asked in a excited voice.

"Rewrote? Huh. Yeah. That would explain the page before where it looked like the entry was sorta cut off." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, babe, I shoulda figgered that out myself. Workin' on less than full cylinders this morning."

"It's okay. But this must mean there's something to find."

"Yeah, mebbe."

"Why are you so negative about this?" Cassie said in an exasperated voice.

"I'm not. I'm jus' tryin' not ta get everyone's hopes up. She coulda jus' rewrote it 'cuz she was too embarrassed about--"

"Well, we could use a little hope around here," Cassie snapped.

That finally pierced the lingering groggy haze around Ned's mind. He stopped and turned towards her. "Mebbe I should be askin' you what's wrong instead."

Cassie hesitated, her eyes shimmering. "I Projected myself last night," she said in a small voice. "I ... I almost got in trouble."

"Aw, shit," Ned muttered.

"It wasn't the Darkness," Cassie said in a firm voice. "At least not directly. It didn't even seem to notice I was there, but..." She trailed off and sighed. "Would you be too upset if I didn't tell you all the details now? I want to talk to Mrs. Radson about this after school, and I'd rather not tell this twice. We don't have much time before we have to head back to the car."

"Well, yeah, I'm upset, but mostly 'cuz of how rattled ya look. But, yeah, it can wait."

"Thank you," Cassie said, and then added in a more contrite voice, "I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"Not a prob, babe, I understand. An' yeah, I guess I'm bein' a downer 'bout all this. Guess I keep thinkin' that if she really did conjure this potion and went gunnin' fer the Darkness, she didn't exactly win, did she?"

Cassie sighed. "I know, I've thought that, too. But I also keep thinking about when Jason told us what Mara had said about staying out of Melissa's way, which turned out to be the wrong idea. Elizabeth may have been a very good Witch, but she wasn't perfect."

"Yeah, an' she was pushin' sixty. Kinda old fer someone who gets energy from sex. Yeah, I'll keep at this. I haven't gotten through the whole journal anyway. So, we gonna have a hoedown with all the Harbingers today?"

Cassie paused as they reached the intersection and pulled Ned closer. "I'd much rather we just go ourselves," she said in a soft voice. "After what happened overnight ... I need some time with you."

Ned pulled his arm from her grip and wrapped it around her waist. She drew close, pressing her bosom against his arm. Despite the layers of clothing, he still swore he could feel the soft warmth of her breasts, and his crotch became less roomy. "Ya jus' woke me up, in more ways than one."

Cassie giggled softly as she turned forward and lay her head on his shoulder. Ned never got tired of hearing that sound.

Melinda stood at the curb and leaned forward to peer around the curve of the street. She wished she could stop either her heart from pounding or feeling so very sexy in her white stockings. She uttered a windy sigh when the bus did not appear and glanced at her big sister, hoping for at least an admonishment for her impatience. Instead, Heather stared straight ahead, lost in her own world.

Melinda shifted her weight and let her thighs rub together just to feel the touch of the stockings against her skin. Her hips swayed, and she felt moisture squish in her pussy. Shit, I have to get my mind on something else, or I'll be as much of a mess as Heather, Melinda thought.

She snapped her gaze up the street at the roar of a laboring engine, and she let out a nervous sigh as the school bus lurched towards them. The bus pulled to the curb, and she steeled herself as the doors opened. In her mind she had a vision of a roiling black miasma surrounding what used to be her boyfriend, writhing and reaching out to get her.

Even though what she saw was nowhere near as bad as what she had imagined, she uttered a tiny gasp and froze at the top of the steps.

The Aura was barely there, like a thin wisp of black smoke from smoldering coals. It had an unfinished look to it, comprised of only a few slim tendrils twisted into coils around Jason like ethereal snakes.

Jason gave her a forlorn look, and next to him Richie nodded and said, "It's okay, I got your back."

Melinda stared in confusion and had to be prompted to move, first by Mr. Bradley's sneer and then Heather's nudge. She stumbled up the last step and gave both boys a wary look. "What are you talking about, Richie?"

"He's to stop me if I start doing anything out of line," Jason said in a neutral voice.

"Will you?" Melinda asked, still standing before the empty seat next to Jason.

"No, I'm okay. But I'll understand if you don't--"

Melinda dropped into the seat and slid an arm around Jason's waist. She pulled him close and curled her other arm around his, as if she believed this would prevent him from slipping away any further.

"So just how is Richie supposed to stop you?" Heather asked in a wary voice as she sat down.

"Any means possible," Jason replied.

"That's right," Richie said, slapping a fist into his opened palm.

"Richie, if you even touch him--!" Melinda piped.

"Melinda, I asked him to do this," Jason said. "I don't want to take the chance that I'll do anything to hurt you."

Melinda's eyes shimmered. She did not want to believe he could ever do that no matter how much the Inn influenced him. "What do you think you'd do to me? Enslave me?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Probably."

Melinda sighed and stretched her legs. She crossed one ankle over the other and shuddered as she felt flush with warm pleasure when the stockings rubbed together. Her pussy oozed and ached. "Maybe being your slave wouldn't be so bad," she said in a low, quavering voice. "Better than being forced to do it with my own aunt."

"No, it wouldn't be any better. I don't want you as a slave." He paused. "I'm sorry we ever did anything like that now. I'm afraid it will try to use that against me."

"Jason, I can't even see your Aura yet," said Heather.

"I can," Melinda declared in that tone she always used when she felt she had just bested someone. She uttered a short sigh of frustration and said in a more contrite voice, "I mean, it's barely there. Just a wisp."

"So what did they do to you to cause it?" Heather asked.

Melinda felt Jason tremble. "I'd rather not go into it now. Thinking about it just makes things difficult for me."