Chapter 63

For once, Diane actually wanted to go to the abandoned church.

Jason had infiltrated her dreams again. She had awoken that morning with a wet and aching pussy that would not relent. She had been forced to let her slave persona take over, whereupon she moaned and writhed through an extended masturbation session, all the while imagining Jason's nice hard cock slow-fucking her.

She had had her feelings largely under control until Richie's comment about her boots, then all her slave ego could think of was how sexy Jason would think they looked. Her pussy simmered on a higher heat than it had the day before, renewing her fears that the potion would wear off before Monday.

Debby took the shortcut after all, as old Fairview had yet to be plowed at all. Diane was sure the minivan would get stuck in the snow which had accumulated over the course of the season. The wheels did spin uselessly a few times, but Debby showed great aplomb at recovering without having to get out to throw down sand or use the shovel, both of which she had piled in the back before leaving the house.

"I just hate having to mar this pristine picture with tire tracks," was the only real concern Debby ever voiced.

When they finally reached Old Fairview, Debby went straight through the intersection and stopped just off the road on the other side. "I'm impressed, Mrs. Radson," Diane said after the engine shut off. "You really handled it as good as my mother on those awful foothill roads."

Debby turned far enough to smile at Diane. "Thank you, dear. I was concerned that I was a bit out of practice. Hopefully I'm far enough off the road that I won't interfere with the snowplow if it does come through while we're gone." Debby glanced at Richie. "I do wish you had brought a pair of boots or galoshes, Richie. Had I known you had none, I would have brought a spare set."

Richie shrugged. "I'm fine, don't worry about it." He reached for the door handle. "Let's just get it done."

Nevertheless, the first thing Diane heard was a string of curses when his feet sank into snow halfway up his calves. Diane followed him out, an icy breeze stinging her face. After closing the door behind her, she took a few steps away from the van and was momentarily awestruck.

What Debby had told her mother had been no lie. Diane had indeed mentioned to Debby her love of such picturesque landscapes. The snow field which stretched between them and the abandoned church rolled gently with the land, gathering in fluffy drifts at the base of trees and boulders. In places where the rocks were the right size to be barely covered, they stood out as smooth bumps, reminding her of frosted cream puffs.

The snow was not completely untouched. Dozens of little tracks criss-crossed it near the trees. She recognized most of them as bunny tracks, with a few squirrel tracks twined with them. She spotted a much larger track and uttered a delighted gasp as she pointed. "Look! I think that was from a fox!"

"I think you're right, Diane," Debby said in a sunny voice as she stepped into view.

Diane smiled. She was grateful for enjoying this bit of natural beauty before setting about business she had hoped not to have to do.

They walked slowly through the thick blanket of snow. Diane distracted herself by identifying more tracks and gazing at the snow falling from the limbs of the firs as sunlight touched them.

Diane's heart pounded as they reached the church. Despite the light filtering through the holes in the roof, Debby snapped on her flashlight as they entered. Diane found it strange to see snow inside despite the condition of the roof. Most of the center aisle was snow-free, and they stomped their feet as they reached the center of the building.

"Now I'm not so keen about this for other reasons," Debby said as she looked up at the ceiling. "This place is not long for this world."

"It wasn't this bad on Halloween," Diane said.

"It must have been that nasty windstorm we had a week later," Debby said as she ran her flashlight beam along the edges of the larger of the openings. "It looks like the wind just peeled the roof off." Her flashlight beam suddenly snapped back. "Look, you can see where some of the wood up there is newer. Someone's been shoring this place up."

"Not anymore," Richie said.

"I hope you're right about that." Debby snapped off her flashlight and turned to the others. "I hate to hurry you, dears, but I don't want us staying in here too long given this state of disrepair."

Diane nodded and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the pendant and steeled herself in case she saw Victor again as she clasped her hand to Richie's.

Reality shifted, and the light became attenuated. Diane flinched as she heard a muffled thud. She turned towards the sound and saw Jo straightening up, standing behind the altar, staring at the church entrance.

"Fuck, she must've seen her!" Richie suddenly exclaimed. "She had to!"

Diane looked towards the entrance, where Penny stood in silhouette against the sunlight. She was wearing denim shorts and a blue pullover shirt. She looked no different from the Penny of the present; she had abandoned the red dye and let her natural rusty tinge show.

In the pregnant pause which followed, Penny did indeed stare at her sister as if trying to comprehend, yet it was Jo who hurtled the first accusation. "What the hell are you doing here again, Penny?"

Penny rushed forward, her face a mask of fear. Diane and Richie scrambled out of the way as she surged towards the center of the church. "I'm not really sure, Jo. I thought maybe I'd get some answers, some insight."

Diane's eyes widened. Penny's voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

Jo paused, then slowly came around the side of the altar, her feet crunching over detritus. "What insight? I never know what you're talking about half the time anymore."

"Everything I've told you that's happened to me!" Penny exploded. "It's all come to a head now, a-and ... I ... I-I fear for my children, Jo."

Jo's lips drew to a thin line. "Oh, here we go again."

Penny's hands clenched into fists. "Stop it. I know for a fact you believe the cult is real. I've seen you and Victor together. I've--"

Jo threw up her hands. "All right, all right! Fine, yes, I know it's real. What of it?"

"Fuck, she still doesn't get it?" Richie cried.

"--week since Heather's birthday, complete strangers have approached her, trying to talk to her ... th-they had Auras, Jo. Every last one!"

"Oh God," Diane murmured, eyes wide.

Jo shrugged. "So?"

"I have to know if the cult is behind it!" Penny cried. "I hope to God they're not, because I can't fight two battles at once!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Haven't you been listening to me for the past five years?! Something else is happening in Haven. Some sort of force or entity is behind the Auras, and now it's trying to get at Heather."

Jo shook her head. "You're getting paranoid, Penny."

"Jo, I brought Heather shopping with me the other day. She wandered off, and when I found her, a man with an Aura was talking to her." Penny shuddered. "He was asking her rather ... rather personal questions. Sexual questions. She resisted answering him, but it looked like she was struggling, like he was trying to mentally influence her."

"Really, for someone who's fucking her way through the townfolk, you have rather prudish notions about your daughter."

"She's only fourteen!" Penny screamed.

Jo smirked. "Then you can rest easy. She's too young for the cult."

"Yeah, right, you lying bitch," Richie grumbled.

"No, she's right, Richie, at least at the time," Diane said. "Melinda was sort of a special case."

Diane's words ended in complete silence. Penny stared at Jo, eyes blazing. What had just happened? She went over in her head what she had heard while talking to Richie. She remembered only the words "how would," and her mind filled in the rest with "you know that."

Penny's eyes darted towards the altar, and the rest of her followed.

"Penny, what are you doing?" Jo demanded. "Where are you going?"

"It's here, isn't it?" Penny said as she stepped behind the altar.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know it's here, dammit, I saw you when I came in!"

"It's under a loose floorboard!" Diane cried.

"She can't hear you," Richie said.

"I know, it was just ... wait, look!"

Penny had stomped her foot on the floor, making a hollow sound. She ducked behind the altar, and Jo surged forward but froze just arm's length from the altar as a creaking noise rose from behind it.

Penny slowly stood, staring downward. "This is it," she said in a small voice. "I knew there had to be more to this church. He could never have held it in here." She looked at Jo. "There's a whole other section of the church down there, isn't there? It looks too clean to be just a cellar or a basement. Not with a hidden trapdoor behind the damn altar!"

Jo slowly smiled. "Congratulations. Give yourself a gold star."

Penny's eyes blazed, and she kicked the trap door closed with a resounding slam that rattled the rafters. She marched out from behind the altar. "You don't just know about the cult. You're in the cult."

"Took you long enough to figure it out," Jo said.

"Don't think me so naive, Jo. I've suspected it for over a year."

"Ooo, that long? That supposed to impress me?"

Penny stepped up to her sister, shaking in both fear and rage. "What's happening with Heather? Is she the cult's next target? Are they starting in on her this early? Are they coming after Melinda, too?"

Jo chuckled. "You think I have to tell you anything?"

"You just said Heather is too young for them. Was that true?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Don't do this to me! Not when it comes to the safety of my children."

Jo smirked. "You can't watch them all the time. Eventually, Heather's going to get herself some real sexual experience beyond just some silly questions about whether she would like to shave her pubes or not. Might as well be from someone who can guarantee she'll enjoy it and come back for more."

Penny uttered an incoherent scream of fury. She grabbed Jo's arms and slammed her into the side of a pew.

"Get the bitch!" Richie roared, startling Diane. "Fuck her up good!"

Jo recovered and pushed her sister back, her larger frame giving her an advantage. She tried to wrestle Penny to the floor, but Penny extricated herself from the melee, throwing Jo off balance. Jo's head snapped to the side from the impact of Penny's hand against her cheek. She tripped and fell hard to the floor.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know," Penny said in a deadly voice. "Or I swear to God, Jo, I'll kill you."

Diane swallowed hard, her heart hammering. She did not need Cassie's empathic sense to know it was no idle threat. Even Richie had lapsed into an uneasy silence.

Jo gave her sister an anxious look as she raised a hand to her reddened cheek. She slowly stood, grunting as she staggered and nearly fell after her left ankle failed to support her. She leaned against the end of the pew and let out a sigh. "Fine. You always were one to miss what was right in front of you."

"You were in the cult from the start," Penny said. "Even as far back as '85. You stopped me from trying to find out what really happened to Stephanie."

Jo rolled her eyes. "You still on that kick?" She cringed and ducked her head when Penny raised her fists. "All right, all right. No, not right then, but soon after that."

"But you were already talking to Victor."

Jo's lips twitched into a smile. "Yes."

"That's why you convinced me to leave Haven. That's why you broke up the business. To protect that perverted cult!"

Jo smirked. "Mostly."

Penny clenched her jaw. "Give me a fucking direct answer. Does the cult want Heather?"

"I don't know who Victor wants from year to year, but I do know that he doesn't start on them this early," said Jo. "That said, if he wants Heather when she's sixteen, he'll have her, it's as simple as that."

Penny raised her fists again, then dropped them to her sides and turned away. "I-I can't fight that battle yet," she said in a choked voice. "I have to know what's happening now."

"You said it yourself, Penny. There are other forces at work in Haven. Powerful forces."

Penny whirled around. "And just what does the cult have to do with them?"

Jo tested her ankle and limped from the end of the pew.

"Hope your fucking ankle is broken, you cunt," Richie muttered.

"Those forces were here long before the cult," Jo said in a softer voice. "It behooves us to avoid upsetting them."

Penny's eyes widened, and she drew back a half step. Diane understood, and sympathetic fear rose in her as well. The cult was already powerful in its own right, and now Penny was up against something worse than that.

"Those forces," Penny said in a hollow voice. "They're concentrated at the Inn. It's like some sort of hub."

"That's about right."

"So what do you do? You work with the Inn? You appease it?"

"In a way. If it asks a favor of us, we tend to accommodate it." Jo paused, one corner of her mouth turning upwards. "Like if it wants young nubile girls to, ah, serve at the Inn."

Diane shivered hard. She knew that was the Inn's purpose all along, but to hear it confirmed so blatantly and in such a cruelly amused voice chilled her to the bone.

Penny's face was frozen in horror before she could force out the words, "Oh God ... my daughters ... H-Heather..."

Her eyes suddenly blazed. She seized Jo's shoulders and slammed her against the altar to a whoop from Richie. "YOU HELPED IT!" Penny screamed into her sister's face. "What you said before about Heather ... you knew she had been asked about shaving herself... you helped it go after my daughter!"

Jo shoved her sister back and stepped away from the altar, rubbing the small of her back. "Did you stop to think for just one second that your little idea of fucking your way through Haven to give people the ability to see its minions just might piss it off?"

"You're changing the subject," Penny said in a shaking voice, tears trickling down her face. "Why did you do it?"

"What the fuck difference does it make?" said Jo. "Really, that's not going to change anything."

"I-I can't let this happen. Why doesn't it go after me? I don't have anything left. I can't protect them. I-I even tried to move us out of Haven, but I can't get that going, either." Penny sobbed once, tears flowing down her cheeks. "W-well, Jo, if your purpose was to totally fuck up my life, you just accomplished it. C-congratulations."

Penny turned away and dropped her face into her hands, crying softly.

"Look at Jo," Diane said, her hands curling into fists. "That's exactly what she wanted. G-God damn her."

Richie did not respond. One look at him suggested he was so furious he was beyond words.

"I still don't understand," Penny said in a choked voice. "Wh-why didn't it just go after me? I d-don't have any special resistance to it. I'm immune to Victor, but this is not the same."

"Maybe it thinks you do," Jo said in a flat voice. "Who knows? Maybe it's yet another stupid power you have."

Richie narrowed his eyes.

Penny lifted her face and wiped her cheeks and eyes. "Is that what it wants? To ... to neutralize me? To get me out of the way?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Bullshit," Richie said.

Diane stepped to the side and plunged her hand through Jo's shoulder, only to whip it back out seconds later with a gasp.

"Well?" Richie said.

Diane shivered. "All I get is her gloating and ... a-and her getting horny over this."

"That has to be it." Penny turned around. "Jo, you ... the cult ... interacts with it all the time. Negotiates with it, so you don't step on each other's toes."

Jo nodded. "Yes, you could say that."

"Then ... then it can be reasoned with ... I can make a deal with it."

"Oh no," Diane said. "Oh God, this is it. This is where--"

Jo gave her a silky smile. "I suppose you could try."

"I have to, Jo!" Penny cried. "You maneuvered me into this! I have no choice! Either I give it what it wants or it will take my daughters!"

Diane's vision blurred. She blinked away the tears and sniffled once.

"This is bullshit!" Richie shouted. "The Dark bitch doesn't fucking make deals!"

Penny swallowed. "I'll give it what it wants," she said in a low, quavering voice. "Me. I'll ... I'll let it ... let it c-control me in exchange for my daughters' safety. Then it won't have to worry about me anymore."

"You know, you could always join the cult," Jo said in a sly voice.

Penny shot an icy look at her sister. "And condemn one girl every year to lifelong sexual slavery? I will not sacrifice someone else when I can sacrifice myself. No, I'll do this. Maybe this is all my fault. Maybe I should've left well enough alone. But you didn't have to help them." She drew herself up straight. "Goodbye, Jo."

She turned and marched out of the church and back into the past.

Diane could not contain herself. As snow shimmered back into existence around her, she dropped her face into her hands and burst into tears.

"Nah, ya caught me jus' as I was about ta leave," Ned said from inside the hall closet under the stairs. That was where he had to take all phone calls on weekend mornings so as not to awaken his parents, who rarely rose before noon. "Wow, yeah, sounds like we've been kinda ignorin' Melinda's plight."

"I think we all assumed that would sort itself out once we freed Jason," said Cassie. "I really feel bad about this."

"Ya can't think of everything. And face it, we kinda expect Melinda ta take care of herself."

"But only because she has a strong-willed older sister who could guide her. I have to warn Diane. She's going to have to be the one to stop Heather from following through."

"Yer likely gonna hafta call her yerself, since I gotta stay at school until Miss Haven Sunshine delivers the goods. Ya gonna be able ta get away from the mansion fer a bit today?"

Cassie sighed. "Not until this afternoon, most likely. First a formal breakfast, which I'm already late for, and a gala luncheon.

Ned's grin suddenly vanished. "Oh crap, all morning? How're yer gonna--"

"It's all right," Cassie said in a softer voice. "At least I think it will be. I'm ... I'm a bit, um, aroused at the moment, but it's not too bad. I might be able to sneak in a quick, well, you know."

"So it's finally slackin' off?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it? There must be some limit to how much energy I can take in. Did Diane tell you what happened yesterday? With the snow coming down, I couldn't get Harry to take me to Diane's house, and I didn't have time to call her."

"Yeah, she gave me the low-down last night." Ned repeated the tale.

"Oh my goodness!" Cassie breathed. "Richie's father?"

"Ayep. And Richie was pretty ticked off about it."

"Certainly it was a shock to him! Oh goodness, poor Mrs. Sovert. The more I learn about her past, the more I feel she's the victim."

"They're still missin' a piece of the puzzle," Ned drawled. "How she got ta be the poster girl fer the Dark Poobah's minion brigade. They're gonna try ta get that last piece today."

"Where are they going for the next vision?"

"Back ta the abandoned church."

Cassie uttered a gasp. "Is that safe?"

"Prolly no safer than last time."

"I really wish you could go with them, Ned."

Ned grinned. "Got that covered already. I talked ta Mrs. R. this morning when I saw how we got dumped on last night with the snow. Figgered no way Diane's overprotective Mom was gonna let her bike in that. Mrs. R. will run 'em around in her minivan. They're prolly already out and about already."