Chapter 37

The first thing Ned noted about the Inn was how much it failed to intimidate with its mere existence. If anything, it looked warm, pleasant, and inviting, as if he would experience nothing more than a comfortable night's sleep were he to stay a night. He wondered what he was expecting. Dark clouds? Gothic styling? Sinister black mist? Perhaps he had expected the building itself to have its own Aura.

Cassie had said she felt a "wrongness" when she had dropped him off some three blocks away, but he felt that starting from the Inn was the easiest way to complete his task. Richie had to be nearby waiting for Jason to exit. The Inn stood just down the block from the southeast corner of the intersection. Richie would be either on the street going north or further east down the street upon which the Inn stood.

The smarter place to wait would be in the opposite direction from which Jason came, so he could simply continue to follow. Jason had likely come in from the east and would head back that way, so logically one would wait towards the west. But this was Richie, who was not prone to good tactical thinking. Ned would have to remind Cassie of this; Jason would have known to go over the details with Richie ahead of time and made sure he knew what he was doing.

Ned chose the street heading east, crossing to the other side, as the street curved such that the Inn would not be visible on the same side of the street. He had just stepped off the curb and turned east when he saw a head suddenly retreat behind the edge of an office building about fifty feet down the street.

Ned sighed and rolled his eyes. He strolled to where he had seen the head and turned down a narrow alley. "Gotta hand it ta ya, Richie. Yer methods of spyin' would put James Bond ta shame."

"Shut the hell up," Richie snapped, standing near his bike which leaned against the wall of the building. "Where the fuck should I be?"

"Try the other direction, Sherlock."

"Huh? But he's gonna come this way when he comes out and ... oh ... shit." Richie grabbed his bike and started walking it towards the street.

Ned stood in front of him. "Hold on there, old hoss. Got some bizness with ya first."

"What? Wait, what the fuck are you doing here?"

"Delivering this." Ned reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Courtesy of the Kendall family fortune."

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Richie stepped forward with his hand outstretched. Ned snatched it away at the last moment. "What?"

"First yer gonna tell me what ya really are gonna do with it."

Richie frowned. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. I was going to use it to call you guys if something happens."

"Richie, yer a lousy liar."

"Fuck you, Ned. Now just give me that thing."

Ned held it out of reach and stepped back. "Ya said something ta Cassie about the exchange the phone is in."

Richie's eyes widened, and Ned knew he had hit paydirt. "So what of it?" said Richie. "I was curious, that's all."

"That don't be a question someone the likes of ya would ask fer no reason."

"What the hell does that mean, 'the likes of me?' You saying I'm stupid?"

"Not at all," Ned said in all sincerity. "But ya don't strike me as the kinda guy that would be innerested in that sorta technical detail. So what gives?"

Richie clenched his hands into fists. Ned stood his ground, despite the very real possibility in his mind that Richie might strike him. "I don't have to tell you jack shit about it," Richie growled.

"Look, I'm gonna level with ya and tell ya something that Cassie mentioned ta me. She likely didn't want me ta repeat it, but she don't always see the big picture. She's worried 'bout ya, big time."

Richie's eyebrows rose. "She is? Why?"

Ned detected a serious note of interest in his voice as well as surprise. "She can sense things in people's heads. She and Mrs. R. fer that matter. They both see something disturbin' in yer head."

"What the fuck, Ned? You saying they think I'm in with--"

"No," Ned declared. "Not the Darkness. More like yer arguin' with yerself. Like ya got two voices in yer head."

"Why the hell is that news? Cassie is the one who said I have some sorta link to my Dad."

Ned shook his head. "She thought about that, but that ain't it. I don't get the whole explanation she gave me, but I trust her when it comes ta this sorta stuff."

"Then I really don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Richie paused. "And that link is goddamn loud enough lately to be a freaking voice in my head. No offense, Ned, but Cassie's got her fucking wires crossed on this one. She's hearing the same thing I am: my father. He's been pissed off enough at me lately that it's a wonder the whole fucking town can't hear him."

Ned frowned. "Pissed off? Fer what?"

Richie hesitated, his eyes shimmering. His lips were parted, as if ready to speak, but the words would not make it down from his brain. "For lots of stuff. Like fucking my mother. Things like that."

"That was hardly yer fault--"

"I don't want to talk about this. It's none of your fucking business what he's mad about."

"Fair enough," Ned said, though he was not at all happy that Richie had taken again to hiding everything that happened to him or his family. "So back ta the phone and why ya asked that question."

Richie rolled his eyes and turned away, throwing his arms in the air. "Fine. I've been having trouble calling my Dad using the pay phones around town and thought the cell phone might be easier. Satisfied? Now can I have the fucking phone?"

"What kinda trouble are ya havin'?" Ned asked.

"What the fuck difference does it make?"

"It makes a whole fat lot of difference," Ned declared. "If Haven's Queen o'Darkness is findin' a way ta mess up communications outside of town, that means it's got about a metric fuckton more power and influence than we think it does."

"It's not that, okay?!" Richie yelled. "It's ... my Dad's blocking Haven numbers on his phone. That's all. I didn't think it was important enough to call a fucking press conference."

Ned sighed. He did not have Cassie's empathic sense, but a gut feeling told him that this was not the whole story. Why would his father arbitrarily block Haven phone numbers? Ned knew about the vision Richie had of his father watching over the house years after the divorce. That did not strike Ned as the sort of man who would want to cut off all access to his son.

Ned stepped forward and handed Richie the phone. "Ya coulda jus' said so in the first place. Cassie woulda been happy ta let ya use the phone fer that. She'd be tickled pink if ya got back with yer Dad."

"Thanks," Richie muttered as he pocketed the phone.

"Cassie's programmed the phone numbers of her, Mrs. R., me, an' Diane inta the speed dial list if ya need 'em. An' if ya do get in touch with yer Dad, can ya let Cassie know?"

Richie glared at him, and Ned had no idea how to interpret it before it faded to a grunt of acknowledgement. Without another word, Richie walked his bike into the street, mounted it, and pedaled away.

Ned stepped out of the alley and watched Richie speed past the Inn and turn down the cross street at the intersection. He waited for another minute before he witnessed Richie's head pop out from behind a building and then disappear again.

"Yeah, nice work, Mr. Bond," Ned muttered as he walked away.

Elena's taunts and furtive touches of Jason's cock had dissolved into a passive acceptance of her rising pleasure. She lay flat on the bed with her feet drawn up to the edge of the mattress, sighing and moaning softly in escalating ecstasy. Even without her absolute control over him, Jason had the skill to please her and then some.

Jason planted his lips to her wet mound and lashed her clit with his tongue, until she drew in a sudden, sharp breath and let it go as a husky sigh. She trembled as he sent her pleasure soaring, then eased off to let it plateau and drift back. He sensed this had not been part of her plan, but she was too distracted by the intensity of the sensations flooding her psyche to call him out on it.

Which is exactly what Jason had hoped would happen.

She has to lose herself to it, Jason had thought, and it had become reality. When he tried to feel guilt over establishing even this tiny bit of control, all he had to do was remember what the cult had done to Melinda. He had little doubt that his was the superior moral stance.

Jason suddenly drew his head back. Elena uttered a forlorn sigh and whispered, "No, don't stop ... Why did you--?"

"Tell me about the other men who worship your pussy."

"Wh-what? Why would I ... uhnng ... oh yes..."

Jason had returned his mouth to her pussy. He thrust his tongue into her tight tunnel and sucked gently on her clit. He closed his eyes and thought of how helpless Elena must feel, squirming in sensual delight which would not carry her quite over the edge, making her dependent on Jason for her satisfaction.

"Other men..." Elena moaned. "Yes ... mmm ... other men worship my pussy..."

Jason drew back just long enough to say, "What other men?"

"Why did ... mmm ... y-yes, they ... heads of ... the regional offices ... but why... ohhhh!"

Elena arched her back, panting hard as Jason licked her clit with the flat of his tongue. He drove her to the excruciating edge of orgasm but held her back simply by willing that she would not cum. She gasped and writhed, shoving her pussy into his face in a desperate plea for release.

"F-fuck ... why can't ... I-I need to cum..." Elena moaned.

Jason drew back, and she let out a frustrated sigh as her stimulation fell back from the brink. "What do you do with them?" Jason asked, pausing a second before planting his mouth to her mound again.

"What? ... Why should I tell ... oh God, I love that ... s-send me over..."

Jason had drawn his lips around her swollen clit and sucked, lashing his tongue against the tip. Her hips bucked as he sent her pleasure spiking right at the straining edge of orgasm. Jason now understood this to be the penultimate vulnerable state of the mind, where its priorities of privacy and control clashed with the intense sexual needs of the body.

She needs to tell me if she wants to cum, Jason thought, and redoubled his efforts in emphasis of the point.

"Uhng! ... Uhhng! ... M-make them want ... my p-pussy so bad ... tell me anything..."

Jason paused in his ministrations long enough to say, "What do they tell you?"

"P-please don't ... uhnng! ... they tell me ... uhnng ... no, c-can't tell you that..."

Jason thrust two fingers hard and fast into her tight cunt as his tongue flicked the shaft of her clit. A protest died on her lips as her hips bucked. She placed a shaking hand to the back of his head and tried to push his face to her pussy, but he resisted and it fell away.

"Tell me if you want to cum," said Jason out of the corner of his mouth.

"Uhng! ... you can't ... uhnng! ... I don't..."

Jason held the statement in his mind as gospel truth, angling his fingers so they rubbed against her clit with each stroke. Her fingers curled into the sheets, her head tossed back.

"Uhng! ... tell me ... all their dirty secrets ... l-lavish gifts on me to not report them..."

While Jason was already confident of his moral superiority, he sensed something was still unspoken. "What about those without dirty secrets?"

"P-please ... took ... t-took pictures ... blackmail ... s-send to his wife..."

Jason had the final piece. She had left the cult but taken the power Victor had bestowed upon her and abused it. She cannot be trusted with this power, he thought, and nothing in his mind would rise up in challenge. How could anything possibly justify this woman's continued use of this power to ruin men's lives? He could not live with himself if he did not put a stop to it.

He could not enslave her. He already had a slave, and taking Elena would raise suspicions when she never returned home. Perhaps he could stop her from wanting to use her power further.

Or maybe she wants cock more than she realizes. Maybe she should want their cocks instead of making them want her pussy.

Yes, that would be ideal, if he wanted to punish her as well as stop her. But why not punish her for what she did? It could serve to further incapacitate her.

But did he have ... yes, of course he had the right. He had the moral high ground. He knew right from wrong, and she either did not know or did not care. Then there was what the cult had done to Melinda, though Elena had not likely been with them when it had happened. Not that it should matter to me. I despise the cult and hence all its members. She's guilty by association.

He knew now what he had to do. He focused all his will on the solution and stopped blocking her orgasm. She cried out as she crested, her pussy squeezing tight around his fingers. Her hips jerked and her body thrashed as her climax spread through her body and into her mind.

His thoughts rode the coattails of her pleasure, sliding easily into her subconscious, where he planted the thought that would make everything right. He found no way to feel any qualms over his actions. She was a former cultist. She had to be neutralized. The ends justified the means.

Elena moaned and went limp as her climax faded, her eyes falling closed. Jason slowly stood, his cock having become rock-hard in intense excitement over what he had done. Whatever lingering guilt may have remained was lost in the triumph that he had done the right thing.

Elena turned her head and opened her eyes. They shimmered first in confusion and then need as she stared first into his face and then at his cock.

"Do you still not want my cock at all, Ms. Wood?" Jason asked.

Elena swallowed. "I-I don't understand ... why... " She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, pushing up her breasts. The nipples were still hard and erect. "G-God ... why ... why am I still so horny?"

Jason smiled. "Maybe you want my cock more than you thought."

"But I ... mmm ... this isn't..." Elena shivered again, her pussy oozing and swollen. "Y-yes ... I don't understand why..."

Jason slid his hands along the insides of her thighs and drifted closer, the head of his cock inches from her folds. "You sure you want it?"

Elena arched her back and moaned. "Yes ... please ... p-put it inside me."

Jason curled his arms around her thighs. He pressed the head against her entrance to her shudder of anticipation. He began to penetrate, then paused and eased off. "You sure about this?"

"Please, fuck me!" Elena cried. "Put your cock in my twat!"

Jason sank into her, letting off his own excited sigh as her tight cunt yielded to his entry. He rocked his hips in a slow and steady rhythm, letting his pleasure build slowly so he did not become too distracted and to leave Elena begging for more.

"So what about those men you want worshiping your pussy?" Jason asked.

Elena panted and closed her eyes. "Please, more ... harder..."

"What about them?" Jason repeated without complying.

"Uhng ... I ... I want their cocks inside me..." Elena moaned.

"How will you do that?"

"Whatever ... uhng ... whatever i-it takes ... money ... gifts..."

"Not your power?"

"No!" Elena cried. She arched her back as Jason thrusted faster. "N-no ... can't use it again ... n-never cum again if I use it..."

"We can't have that," Jason said, his voice growing more breathy and strained. "After all, you have to have cock."

"Uhng ... oh God, yes ... I must have cock ... I need it so badly ... I need to be fucked..."

"No matter what they look like?"

Elena panted hard as their bodies slapped together, the bed squeaking softly. "D-doesn't matter ... just want cock ... God, I so want cock ... please, fuck me harder..."

This time, Jason complied, as his own pleasure needed to be consummated. He had realized that reinforcement right after control was achieved ensured it would stick. Jason made her cum first so he could slip into her mind to that effect.

As Elena writhed and moaned in orgasmic delight, Jason pounded into her until his cock throbbed as well. He closed his eyes and buried himself inside her, enjoying the feel of his cock pulsing against the tight confines of her cunt. He waited until he was fully spent before withdrawing.

He felt it symbolic that he should leave his seed inside her as a way of marking her as properly altered to cause no more harm. He had picked up from her thoughts that she had already permanently settled the birth control issue. He was relieved that she had already seen to it that she would not breed.

"Mmm..." Elena moaned, her eyes closed, her lips curled into a satisfied smile. "God, that felt so good."

"Did you already see the director for Haven's regional office?" Jason asked as he picked up his clothes.

Elena answered without lifting her head, still basking in the glow of post-coital bliss. "No, I'm supposed to see him Monday."

Jason grinned as he dressed. "Bet you can hardly wait."

"Oh, yes ... God, I hope he has a nice big cock."

"I wish you luck, then. Be pretty hard for you if he refuses and you have to wait for the next one."

"I know, I'm going to be so horny until I can get another cock in my pussy."

Jason finished dressing and headed for the door.

"Wait!" Elena cried as she sat up.

Jason paused at the door and turned. "Yes?"

"Um ... will you be around later? Or tomorrow? I mean ... I'm going to need more cock by then and I really liked yours."

"You'll have to talk to Stacy and see if she can arrange something for you. I'm sure she can."

Elena nodded and gave him a wan smile.

Jason gave her one last lingering look, congratulated himself on a job well done, and left.

Penny retied the sash of her robe just to give her hands something to do long enough to cross the kitchen to the coffee pot. "Do you want a cup, Jo?" she asked in a neutral voice.

"None for me," came her sister's haughty voice near the door.

Penny glanced behind her and saw that Jo had not advanced past the threshold. She poured herself a mug of coffee and returned to the table, holding her robe closed over her delta as she sat down. "What can I do for you, then?"

"We need to talk about Melinda."

Penny paused to take a sip for no other reason than to stretch the conversation further and give her daughter a longer reprieve. "Is she giving you any problems?"

Jo gave her a wry smile. "Oh, not at all. She's a nice, compliant, living sex toy. The trigger Kelly left inside her works wonders."

Penny nodded and held her tongue, though her pussy tingled in approval. "I'm glad she's working out for you," Penny said, her low-level arousal adding a touch of huskiness to her voice, but little else conveyed any sense of enthusiasm.

Jo smirked. "Stop lying. Oh, wait, that's right. Seeing your daughters farmed out as sexy prostitutes is hardwired to your twat."

Penny let out a sigh far more lusty than she had intended, her hips squirming as heat blossomed in her sex. "Can you get to the point, please?"

"Of course, since this is sure to get your pussy wet. I want to take Melinda home with me."

Penny hesitated with the mug halfway to her lips. She set it down, where it rattled from her trembling hand. "Today?"

"Today or tomorrow. Though I hardly see the need to delay."

Penny paused and expected words of wisdom from her Mistress, but none were forthcoming. She sensed it hovering nearby, observing in silence. She wondered if this were some sort of test. Perhaps that was why the Darkness was allowing her more independent thought of late. It wanted to see where her loyalties lie.

Didn't it understand? Didn't it remember? She would not have made this arrangement if she had not put her daughters' well-being first. Despite the guilt which threatened to swell, she continued to tell herself that she had had no choice. The wolves were at the door, and Jo had been about to let them in.

Penny writhed, her pussy aching and damp. She saw the corner of Jo's mouth rise. If she let Melinda go now, she would likely spend the rest of the day in orgasmic bliss. "No," she finally said in a shaky voice. "It's too soon. I need more time to decide."

Jo sighed. "This really is ridiculous, you know."

"If I can't keep them with the family, Jo, then I want some say in what happens to them!"

"You cannot tell me that was part of the bargain."

Penny hesitated. "M-maybe not," she admitted in a softer voice. "But ... but it hasn't seriously objected. I think it's going to give me some say in the matter."

"I sincerely doubt that it meant for you to 'shop around' like someone looking for the best deal. I'm the best you'll get. You've already decided for Heather."

Penny wanted to tell Jo that the arrangement with Laura was intended to be temporary, but she saw no means to get Heather out without confronting Laura directly. She did not want to risk making things worse.

She knew Laura wanted both her daughters. It was one reason why she had let Jo have her way with Melinda, though in retrospect she no longer saw that as a better alternative. A lot of decisions she had made since the 'deal' she had struck with the Darkness seemed to fall into this category, yet she could not let herself question it, for that was the entire basis of her life now.

"Laura was an act of expediency," said Penny in a flat voice.

"Does it know that?"

Penny said nothing and took a sip of coffee, having to hold the mug with both hands to keep it steady.

"You really like to play with fire, don't you?"

"Jo, stop pretending to know it better than I do," Penny snapped.

"Oh, I know it enough. You seem to forget that I researched it right alongside you."

"If that's what you call what you did, and not just finding a way to stab me in the back--"

Jo laughed. "Listen to us, acting like we're teenagers again. Let's go back to acting more mature, shall we? Though I do want to point out that you had ample opportunity to join Victor and I. You could have avoided all this."

"And my daughters would still be in danger, just from another source!"

Jo sighed and shook her head. "Still just like you always were back then. Can't see the big picture."