Chapter 39

Jason stepped into Stacy's office only to find it empty.

He closed the door behind him and sat on the sofa. Since the front desk had shepherded him here, he figured Stacy must be about to return shortly.

He felt less anxious this time. His dreams had ceased to disturb him and now excited him. He had dreamed of crusading against women who abused their power for personal gain, enslaving them to their former victims or taking them himself. In the last one before waking, he had gained a small harem of formerly powerful and corrupt women.

A smile flickered across his face, and he shifted in his seat as his cock swelled.

He heard the door open and was about to stand when he saw it was not Stacy but a young Asian woman. Her eyes widened as they fell on Jason before darting about the otherwise empty office. "Oh, am I ... um ... isn't this Stacy Missen's office?"

"Yes, it is," Jason said. "I assume she'll be back shortly since I'm supposed to meet with her."

"Oh," said the young woman. "I guess she's already ... um, or are you interviewing, too?"

Jason shook his head. "I already work here."

"Oh! Well, I guess..." She trailed off, her gaze flicking towards the desk. "Um ... I'm not sure what I should do."

"Did you have an appointment with her?"

"Yes, or at least I thought I did."

"Then you should probably stay."

"Oh, well, I ... um ... okay." The young woman gave him a tremulous smile and stepped inside, closing the door as if it were made of delicate crystal. She hesitated, then sat at the other end of the sofa. She drew her black-stocking clad legs together and tugged her skirt straight until it covered her knees. She straightened her blouse until it stretched over her modest bosom.

"I'm Jason, by the way," Jason said.

"Oh, um, I'm Kim," she said, stretching her hand awkwardly across the gap to shake his. She finally scooted over one seat, smiling sheepishly and brushing strands of long, black hair out of her deep brown eyes. "So ... any idea when Ms. Missen will be back?"

"No idea," Jason replied. He had no intention of carrying the conversation beyond that, as his mind was focused on what Stacy would task him with that day. Not a minute later, however, he became more curious about her, though he was not sure why. "So you implied you're here to interview for a job?"

"Oh, did I?" Kim said. "I guess I did. Yes, I am, but ... well, never mind."

Jason was not going to be deterred. He needed to know more. "Please, tell me, what were you about to say?"

Kim looked at him, her eyes glistening. "Um ... it's really not important."

"How would you know that?"

Kim bit her lower lip. "I guess you're right." She let out a small, forced laugh. "Most people are anyway. All I was going to say was that this wasn't really my idea."

"Oh? Who's idea was it, then?"

"Ms. Missen's, actually."

Now Jason really was curious, regardless of whether or not anyone was guiding him. He saw nothing in his actions that were unusual. "So how did that come about?"

"I ran into her in that little cafe over on Elderberry Street," Kim said. "Near the community college I'm attending. I go there for coffee in the mornings. She thought it would be good for me to try working here part time."

"Doing what?"

"That's just it, I don't know. She didn't say."

"And you didn't think to ask her?" Jason said, nonplussed.

Kim fidgeted and crossed her legs. She spent another minute straightening her skirt and blouse. "I don't ... I guess ... She just seemed so confident I would do well that I didn't think it was my place to ask."

Jason could not imagine someone being that passive. Why wouldn't she want to know such details? Was she that trusting of authority figures to not want to question them? "Sorry to have to ask, but are you always this way?"

Kim tilted her head. "Um, what way?"

"Unable to assert yourself."

Kim's eyes widened. She uncrossed her legs and brushed her hair back. "Oh, um ... well ... I just don't like to make decisions when I don't have enough information, you know?"

"But you decided to come down here for this interview."

"Well ... Ms. Missen told me to."

"And you followed along just like that?"

Kim spent a few seconds brushing an imaginary spot on her skirt. "I just ... she seemed to know what she was talking about." She paused and looked up. "I mean, what was I supposed to do?"

"Just what I said before. Ask her more questions. Get more information so you can make a decision."

Kim's eyes shimmered for a moment before she looked away and shook her head. "Maybe we shouldn't talk about this anymore." She looked towards the door. "Maybe I should just leave and forget about this." She stood but paused again.

Jason was rather taken aback. How could anyone go through life incapable of making decisions? He knew it would take more than a few questions to learn what really went on at the Inn, but that was no excuse.

He realized she was close to making the right decision; leaving this place was the best action. If she stayed, she would likely wind up as another prostituted thrall of the Inn.

Until, of course, it happened again, or she ran into some minion of the Darkness who happened to fancy this attractive brown-eyed Asian.

He thought of Elena, the power-abusing woman he had stopped the day before. What if she had been like Kim? That would have been far worse, if she could be so easily dominated and made to use her power for someone else's benefit.

Was that stretching things a bit? Kim did not strike him as having any sort of additional abilities, yet now he had a burning desire to learn more about her.

"You sure you want to leave now?" Jason asked.

Kim bit her lower lip again. "Um ... I don't know."

"Maybe you should stay and wait for Ms. Missen."

Kim hesitated, then sat down again. "I guess you're right."

Jason was sure he was not using any sort of power on her. All he did was use a confident, firm voice and nothing more. She simply seemed naturally submissive. He supposed that could happen. Diane was that way, but to a somewhat lesser degree.

Though he really wished she would speak up more at the meetings. That had frustrated him to no end.

"You said you were attending the community college in Haven?" Jason asked.

Kim crossed her legs and folded her hands over her knee. She smiled and nodded. "For now, anyway. I'm studying social sciences. I'm interested in how people act as a group."

"Why? What are you interested in doing?"

"I'm not sure yet. My counselor at school suggested urban planning."

Jason had trouble seeing her being assertive enough to design cities. "Do you have any idea why he suggested that?"

Kim's lips twitched into a small smile. "I guess because of the presentation I had given earlier. We had to do a project for a social engineering class I was taking. The idea was to come up with a design for a city that would not require police to maintain order."

"That doesn't sound possible," Jason said.

Kim's smile widened. "I know, doesn't it? I think they meant it to be that way, sort of a challenge to see who could come the closest, or to just make us think." She giggled. "I thought I had come up with the lamest idea, but I got the best marks. By the time I was done with the presentation, everyone thought it was a wonderful idea that could actually work. It went like this..."

Jason listened, and was aghast by the time she was done. Her harebrained idea had no hope of working even in a best-case scenario. How did she manage to win over faculty and peers? Did she have some sort of latent power of suggestion which worked on the masses but not any one individual?

"It seemed to take a bit before they were convinced," Kim said in a more subdued voice. She laced her fingers together tighter over her knee. "In fact, they started laughing at me at first, and I almost burst into tears, but Mr. Renald -- my teacher -- kept encouraging me. I'm not sure how it happened, but everyone was applauding at the end."

For a moment, he was struck by how convenient it seemed. How could Stacy just happen to find someone with a latent power like this?

His suspicion was overshadowed by the implications if Kim really did have this power. Obviously it had its limits, but who knew what might happen were she given an opportunity to develop it, especially by someone unscrupulous enough to use her to his or her own aims? Could she, for example, design a community with a social strata based around sexual slavery and make everyone think it was a great idea?

Kim glanced at the door. "Are you sure you don't know when Ms. Missen will be back?"

"Positive." Jason paused when a thought popped into his head. "I could interview you instead."

Kim blinked. "You can?"

"Yes. In fact, I've been doing it all along."

Kim's eyes widened. "Oh, um, I didn't know ... I wouldn't ... I-I mean..."

"And I like what I've heard so far."

Kim slowly smiled. "Really?"

Jason nodded and smiled as well. "Yes, and I want to pause to see if you have any questions for me before we continue."

Kim shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Let's continue."

Jason thought as much: still no questions about what kind of job she would be doing. He was convinced she was far too submissive for her own good. He knew what he had to do, and he was confident he would never abuse whatever power over the masses she possessed.

Otherwise, he could never claim to hold the moral high ground.

Melinda writhed as her pussy rose in helpless pleasure, inching ever upwards despite every attempt to foil it. Moisture oozed and dripped onto the pew, and she was as desperate to feel the sweet release of orgasm as she was to stop it.

She tried several times to ease away from Aunt Jo, thinking perhaps if she did not feel the warmth of Jo's mature, sexy body, she could hold a coherent thought in her head for more than a few seconds.

She had little room, as she sat between Jo and Heather. Each time she tried to scoot away from her aunt, Jo squeezed closer to her, or Heather squirmed. While Heather was nowhere near old enough to set off her trigger, it made her think about sex again and kept the endless cycle of lust going.

Melinda whimpered and tucked her skirt between her thighs. She was convinced Aunt Jo possessed direct if weak mind control power. She doubted the trigger alone would be enough to allow Aunt Jo to will her pussy to orgasm.

Melinda felt Heather's hip brush hers and heard a soft, husky sigh. She gave her big sister a forlorn look. Heather had been right; Melinda had hoped for a rescue from Aunt Jo for a day. She wondered where Heather had managed to find the energy. Had she not become so desperate herself, Melinda would have chastised Heather for not using it to fend off Laura's influence for a little longer.

As the energy from Heather waned, Melinda's pleasure suddenly spiked. Her thighs clenched, her pussy straining on the edge of climax. She whimpered and clenched her teeth, shaking her head. She couldn't do this here. Anywhere but here. Out in the street, in the car, anywhere. Not in a church.

Melinda let out a quavering sigh as she eased back, though the stimulation plateaued just short of cresting. Her breath was a soft pant as a phantom tongue teased her pussy, holding her without letting her go forward or back.

Aunt Jo leaned into her and whispered, "Almost. Next time, you'll go right over for sure."

Melinda swallowed and looked to Heather in the hope her big sister had managed to recover, but it was like watching Heather in the hours before she would return to Laura. Her eyes were half-lidded and dark, soft sighs passing slightly parted lips. She squirmed, her hands sliding over her thighs.

Melinda dared a glance at her mother, who sat on the other side of Heather, and wished she had not. Penny appeared oblivious, staring at the reverend as he yammered out his typical Sunday sermon. Melinda did not think she could hate the woman even more than she already did, but of everything her mother could do, the very worst was to exhibit this sort of apathy.

At least look at what you've done to us, you bitch.

Melinda closed her eyes and shivered as her pleasure spiked again. Her pussy soared and strained, and she gripped the edge of the pew. She clenched every muscle she could, hoping to find the one involved in orgasm. Heather let off another husky sigh, hip bumping against her sister and flooding Melinda with renewed lust.

Nononononopleasenonononono...

Her mind suddenly went blue-white, and she felt as if she were hovering above her own body. She looked "down" and saw herself still straining at the very edge of orgasm, past the point of no return. She gave a soundless shout of "no" and abruptly rejoined her body.

She let out her held breath as a quavering sigh, and her muscles unclenched. Her pussy fell back from the brink, leaving it aching so badly as to be uncomfortable. It helped further mask the lust, allowing her to push it back with the now fading line energy.

Melinda flinched when Heather suddenly whispered urgently, "Melinda, are you okay?!"

Melinda looked at Heather and found her big sister's old self staring back. Melinda let out a windy sigh. "I could ask the same about you," she said in a shaky but relieved voice.

"God, if Diane were here, I'd give her a huge kiss, church or no church."

"How is she doing it? That's the second time she--"

"Shh!" Penny hissed at them. "Please be quiet so we can all hear the sermon."

Melinda almost stuck her tongue out when she felt Aunt Jo stir beside her. She shivered as some of the lust surged back, but not as much as before. Her pleasure would rise no further than the middling ground into which it had already settled.

"This is getting very annoying," Jo muttered. "I'm going to have to talk with your mother when we get home."

Talk to her all you want, you stupid cow, Melinda thought before the lust for Jo's beautifully mature body could return in force.

Panting hard, Diane pulled her trembling hand from under her panties and jeans. She lifted her eyes, her gaze darting around the clearing. She let out a relieved sigh when she saw no one in attendance.

Her pussy ached in post-orgasmic bliss, and her lips twitched into a tiny smile. Despite having been pushed by urges she could not ignore, she had felt more in control of the line energy than ever before. All she did was pace her rise to orgasm like Debby had shown her, and the line energy had followed in concert.

Moreover, this time she knew the exact effect it had had.

When she had first directed the burst of energy to Heather and Melinda, it was as if she had stepped into their bodies for a moment. It was just as Melinda once described when she had projected energy over the link to a fellow Harbinger.

She wrapped her arms around herself and let out a shaky sigh. For a few seconds, she and Heather had shared consciousness, as if they were two spirits in the same body. It left her first with a lightheaded giddiness, and then a moment of pure joy. She had felt Heather's feelings towards her; it was one thing to see evidence of another's love, but to actually experience it was altogether indescribable.

She thought she understood now how she had managed to use her power at just the right time: she was linked into Heather's precognitive ability. Even as dampened as it was by Laura, it still operated on a low level and somehow communicated with her.

Diane stood and smiled, elated that she would have good news to tell Debby for a change.

"Kim, stand in front of me, facing me," said Jason.

Kim let out a husky sigh as she slowly stood. She stepped away from the sofa and turned on her heel, her arms lying limp at her sides.

"You really don't like making decisions of any kind, do you?" Jason asked.

"No, I don't," Kim replied in a breathy voice.

"And you don't care to question authority."

"I-I don't feel it's my place. They must know what they're doing."

"Like me?"

Kim paused, then nodded. "Yes, like you."

"Which is why you answered all those really intimate questions. You even told me all about your sex life."

Kim's cheeks colored. "You ... you said I had to," she said in a small voice. She swallowed and tilted her hips. "And it felt kind of nice for some reason."

"Do you know it could also feel nice to do as you're told?"

Kim let out another low, needy sigh. "Y-yes, it ... it did feel good when you told me to stand here."

"It was nice not having to make that decision, wasn't it?"

Kim hesitated before nodding once.

"Would you like me to make another one for you?"

"I don't ... what kind of decision?"

"Well, let me ask you this," said Jason. "Can you think of anything you want to do right now?"

"I don't know what to do now." She ran a hand through her hair. "I-I'm having trouble thinking straight."

"In that case, I'll decide what you should do next. Take off your blouse."

Kim uttered a small gasp, though her hands had already risen to her bosom. She fidgeted with one of the buttons. "I-I'm not sure I--"

"But I'm sure, and that's what matters. You don't need the burden of that decision. It will feel better to do as you're told."

Kim slowly nodded and started to unbutton her blouse. Her next breath came out as another husky sigh, and her fingers moved faster. She pulled open the blouse, revealing her simple white bra. She shrugged the blouse from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Her hips swayed once. "Oh God," she whispered.

"Did that feel good?"

"God, yes, that felt nice," Kim replied in a dreamy voice.

"So much better then fretting over decisions, isn't it?"

Kim nodded and slowly smiled.

"Take off your skirt," Jason said.

Kim obeyed but paused just before letting the skirt fall into a heap around her feet. She stepped out of them and nudged them aside with her foot. She shivered and sighed, her hips writhing. Her panties clung to her mound, stained dark with her growing moisture. "God, that feels good," Kim murmured.

"It will keep feeling good as long as you obey. Take off your bra."

Kim reached behind her and undid the hooks. She tugged the straps from her shoulders and pulled away the cups, and her breasts spilled out. Her nipples were stiff and erect, the surrounding areolae dark. She uttered a breathy moan as she dropped the bra to the floor, her hips gyrating.

"How do you feel?" Jason asked.

"H-horny," Kim whispered. "I never knew it could make me feel this way."

"Take off your panties."

Kim tugged them down her hips, letting out a ragged sigh as the crotch peeled away from her wet mound. She let them fall down her stocking-clad legs and stepped out of them, kicking them aside when they caught on the heel of her shoe. She shuddered and moaned, sliding her hands slowly down her sides until they framed her hips, which swayed from the unrelenting heat in her pussy.

"The freedom from having to decide anything is wonderful, isn't it?" Jason asked.

"Yes, it is," Kim said, but gave him a pleading look.

"But you need something, and you don't feel right asking for it."

Kim bit her lower lip and nodded.

Jason stood. "So it would be so much better for someone who knew what you need to make sure you get it."

Kim's eyes darted to the bulge in Jason's crotch. She nodded again.

Jason started to remove his clothes. Kim watched, her breath quickening, her body trembling. She sighed in desire when his cock sprang free, stiff and pulsing with his excited heartbeat.

Jason was quite pleased. This was the easiest of them all. He barely had to use any power at all, as if she were already looking for someone to dominate her. He felt no qualms at obliging. He had already learned it was better to take complete rather than partial control. Soon Kim would only know happiness and obedience, and the two would be synonymous.

"Kneel on the sofa, Kim," Jason said. "And let me take care of everything."

Penny stepped into the master bedroom and tossed her purse on the bed. "I know what you're going to ask, Jo," she said in a tired voice. She turned around as her sister appeared in the doorway. "Whatever happened to Heather and Melinda at church I had nothing to do with."

Jo stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Oh, I know that perfectly well, but I'll bet you know something about it regardless."

"I can't read my daughters' minds."

"Please, stop playing games with me. It's getting old."

Penny folded her arms. "You know as much about Heather and Melinda's situation as I do. I don't have any secrets I'm holding back. And ... just what the hell are you doing?"

Jo neatly folded the blouse she had just removed and placed it in a chair in the corner of the room. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why are you undressing in here? David is in the living room watching the game."

Jo reached behind her to unlatch her bra. "So?"

"So maybe I don't like having to keep altering my husband's perceptions of everything."

Jo gave her sister a silky smile as she freed her plump breasts. "I would think you would have gotten used to it after all this time."

"Getting used to it is not the same as desiring it. I loathe what I have to do to keep him in the dark."

Jo slid her pants down her legs and stepped out of them. "I suppose you should have thought about that before you started poking your nose where it didn't belong, honey."

Penny clenched her teeth. "You're the one who orchestrated the threat to my--"

"But we're getting off-topic," Jo said as she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties. "So, does this have to do with the Harbingers?" She looked pensive as she shimmied her hips out of the panties and dropped them down her legs. "They share some sort of link, don't they? I remember hearing that Victor had ranted about that at some point."