Chapter 9

Cassie sighed and shaded her eyes as the limo left the base of the mesa, the setting sun glowing bright orange through the windshield. "Harry, if you would," she said in a shorter voice than she had intended.

Harry drew down the sun visor on the passenger side front seat. Cassie lowered her hand and opened her mouth to express her thanks, but it was lost among a new surge of resentment and self-recrimination. "I'm sorry, Ned, I guess I shouldn't have tried to do this."

Ned shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile, only partially forced. "I was the one who sorta messed up. Yer mother wasn't so hot on me bein' there anyway, so no wonder she wanted me ta skedaddle after dinner was over."

"She could have at least let you stay through after dinner tea!" Cassie snapped.

"Yeah, I know, babe. Um, it's okay ta go back ta callin' ya that, right?" Ned said, glancing at the back of Harry's head.

"Of course it is. In fact, don't ever stop. I don't care if my mother can hear or not." She looked at Harry and said in a louder voice, "Or if anyone tells her!"

Ned touched her arm but drew back his hand when she flinched.

Cassie stared at him for a moment in shock, not at his gesture but her own reaction to it. She seized his arm and pulled him as close as the seatbelts would allow. "Goodness, I'm sorry, Ned," she said in a shaky whisper. "I don't know what has me so on edge right now."

"I can think of plenty o' reasons."

Cassie closed her eyes and leaned her head on his shoulder. Neither had mentioned the incident at dinner, but Cassie could tell even without her empathic sense that he was itching to discuss it.

"I'll talk about it," she said in a whisper. Her eyes darted towards Harry as she and Ned were jostled against the seatbelts when the limo bumped over the bridge into Haven proper. "But not here."

Ned nodded and held his tongue until the limo had pulled up in front of his house. Cassie followed him out of the car to a small sigh from Harry. "I'll only be a minute, for goodness' sake," Cassie said in an irritated voice as she grabbed Ned's arm and escorted him up the walk.

Halfway to the door, Ned turned to face her. "So any idea what was eatin' yer Mom?"

Cassie shook her head. "Now my mother is as mysterious as she is frustrating. Maybe that's why I'm so jumpy, because she was ever since that ... that moment."

"Jus' what didja sense from her?"

Cassie shivered. "Fear. Again."

"Whoa, wait. Whaddaya mean again?"

Cassie told him in a halting voice about the conversation with her mother in the hall while Ned was waiting in the drawing room. "I can't explain it. I've never felt anything like this before from her. Her reaction to the doll house was just so out of proportion to ... what?"

Ned had suddenly stared at her. "What was that all about?"

"What was what?" Cassie demanded. "Please, don't make me guess, I'm not up to it."

"When you mentioned the doll house, you shivered. Like, hard."

Cassie stared. "I did? I don't remember doing it."

"Well, ya did, like ya were really cold. Or really scared."

Cassie frowned and looked away for a moment. She tried to think about the doll house again where it sat across the room under the shelf. No, the window. Or was it next to the bed? She could not recall what side of the room the bed was on, or even what color the beddings were.

She looked at Ned. "Did anything just happen now?"

"Nada."

Cassie covered her eyes with a hand. "This is starting to frighten me. It's like I don't know the inside of my own head anymore."

"It's too bad yer Mom was so quick ta clear out the riff-raff," Ned drawled. "Mebbe I coulda wheedled some info from yer father."

"I doubt it, not with my mother around. He defers to her in everything concerning me."

"Yeah. Too bad, he actually seems like a nice fellah. Not so much a rich snob as a reg'lar guy who happens ta have fat wads of moolah."

"Unlike my mother," Cassie muttered.

"Oh, uh, I didn't mean ta imply--"

"I did. That's what she is, a snob. I live in fear of becoming that, of wanting to ... t-to control everything I touch." She gazed into his eyes, her own glistening in a silent plea. "Now do you understand why I get so upset when any of us tries to control someone else?"

Ned sighed and nodded. "Yeah, an' I'm the biggest butthead of 'em all in that area."

"Really, Ned, I've already told you, it wasn't entirely your fault, not with what Victor did to Diane. I'm just glad we're rid of that awful Book. Now if I can just sort myself out."

Ned wrapped his arms around her. "Wow, I've never seen ya this freaked out before, babe. I guess it sucks when ya don't have no one ta help ya figger out yer dreams."

"I've never had to, not since puberty when I got this Dream Gift."

Ned paused. "Right when ya stopped usin' yer playroom."

"I think that was coincidence. I don't see where one would lead to--"

"Then why didja jus' shiver again?"

Cassie trembled with the urge to lash out, to accuse him of lying, or of mistaking a simple reaction to the cold as something more significant. Yet she could not deny what she had seen for herself in the ballroom, and the furs her mother had insisted she wear plus the overheated car had already brought her to near sweating.

She ducked her head against his chest and let him pull her close, her hands grasping his upper arms. "I really wish I didn't have to be alone tonight," she whispered.

Ned squeezed his arms around her. "I never figgered how anyone could be alone in a mansion with dozens of servants until today. I, uh, hate ta ask this, but ... are ya gonna try Projectin' again?"

Her fingers curled into his arm, and she breathed into his jacket. "I don't want to, but I just know I'm going to feel compelled again." She closed her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek." Oh, g-goodness, Ned, what if this is the Darkness trying to get at me?"

Ned squeezed her tighter. "Hey, now, c'mon, none o' that."

"But I'm scared that's what's going to happen. I can't imagine what I might do to a-any of you if--"

"Ya said yerself ya didn't feel nothin' like what ya get when the Grand Poobah of Evil is after ya."

Cassie opened her eyes and looked up. She let out a quavering sigh and nodded slightly. She kept telling herself that any pleasure she had felt had been nothing more than the simple exhilaration which accompanied unfettered travel.

She also reminded herself that the last time she had a compunction she could not explain, it had led her to Stephanie.

"I just wish I knew more about this ability," Cassie said. "I don't know if any of what I'm feeling or seeing is normal. All Mrs. Radson can tell me is what I can't do, which is the very thing I need to do."

"Oh, ya mean line-jumpin'?"

"It's the only way I can reach the others. I can't feel Jason, Heather, or Melinda at all, and Richie only faintly. I thought I had felt a little more from him earlier, like a tiny burst of anger, but it felt ... off, like it was him but not quite."

"Huh. Crap, this is gettin' ta be a maze o' twisty li'l passages, all alike. Jus' promise me ya won't go inta any dark corners of the lines so ya don't get eaten by a grue or somethin'."

Cassie did not catch the reference, but her lips twitched into a tiny smile anyway, as if seizing any excuse to do so. She uttered a slow sigh and slid a hand into his jacket and over his chest, a small shiver passing through her which had nothing to do with her repressed memories or the cold.

Ned understood and slid his hand down her back. "I know, babe," he whispered. "We gotta keep our energy up."

"No, it's not just that," she breathed. "I realized that ever since my mother prohibited me from taking you anywhere near my bedroom. My connection to you is strongest when we're making love. I-I think that's what really prompted me to do what I did to be able to see you again." She managed a tiny smile. "I feel a little better about it now."

They shared a soft kiss, which lingered until a rather loud clearing of a throat emanated from the limo. "This is where I get off," said Ned with a grin. "My stop on the Kendall Riff-Raff Express."

Cassie giggled, though in a more serious tone she said, "I am sorry it couldn't work out better."

"Look, babe, don't worry about it. Yer parents and me are jus' in way diff'rent leagues. I figger yer mother was jus' cringin' at my New Yawk City accent. When yer Mom apologized ta me, I came close ta goin' 'fuhgeddaboudit' jus' ta see her reaction."

Cassie laughed, and Ned still thought it was the sweetest sound in the world. She lay a hand on his arm. "Ned, promise me you'll never, ever let me try to make you act any different."

He placed his hand over hers. "Only if ya promise to call me tomorrow morning to let me know yer safe."

Cassie nodded and smiled. They shared another kiss and a brief, calm silence as she snuggled up to her lover for another stolen moment. She reluctantly broke off the embrace and headed back to the limo.

Despite his outward demeanor, Ned was anything but settled. Cassie felt his emotions churning all the way back to the limo. More likely than not, his head spun with questions about the Kendalls, questions he was desperate to ask and which Cassie had no answers. She was grateful he kept them to himself; in her present state of mind, they would have made her all the more agitated.

Whatever dirty laundry her family was hiding could be a red herring, yet if she had learned anything while dealing with Victor, it was that everything had to be considered important. The more they unraveled the evil which affected this town, the further back in time they seemed to go. Now she had to consider the possibility that her own parents were somehow involved.

Or were being moved into place like pieces on a chessboard.

Dusk was turning into twilight when Jason was finally allowed to head up to his room. Not long after, however, his mother followed, letting herself in without announcing herself. Jason had expected this, and had nothing more than a science magazine in his hands. Just before she closed the door behind her, Jason heard his Aunt Betty still spouting off about something to his likely unreceptive father.

"Jason, I wanted to speak with you alone," Audrey said in a soft voice, folding her hands before her.

Jason's stomach twinged, and his eyes roamed over the edges of her Aura. It flowed in slow swirls, darker and thicker than it had been that morning. He sensed calm and satisfaction in the patterns, as if this were just a formality. "What is it, Mom?" he asked in as casual a voice as he could muster.

Audrey stepped forward, and Jason tensed. "I had promised I would listen to your opinion about getting a job before I decided anything."

Jason sat up. His heart pounded as he debated whether or not to even engage her on the topic. If this was what the Darkness wanted, nothing Jason could say would dissuade her. While talking to her might allow him to discover more about her motivations, he was afraid of what she might do to "convince" him to believe as she did.

The idea that he would have to admit to the others that he acted the part of the coward, especially in light of Richie's daily struggle, prompted him to play along. "I don't think I would have enough time, Mom. School is taking up a big part of my life, especially with exams coming up at the end of the semester."

"I believe you would have plenty of time if you started right after your last class," Audrey said. "You would have the whole evening after dinner to do your homework."

"That doesn't leave me any time for my friends. Or Melinda."

Her Aura began to swirl faster. Can he really be ready for a relationship with a girl if he can't understand the basic need for responsibility? Jason heard the Darkness coo into his mother's mind.

"Jason, perhaps you're not as ready for a relationship as you think if you're having trouble taking responsibility for yourself," Audrey said, her voice still soft but insistent.

And you know what they're really doing.

Audrey took another step forward. "I ... I know what you've been doing with her," she said in a lower voice. "You think you're being quiet about it, or you think just turning it down a notch is good enough."

"Mom, I haven't done anything like that with her in awhile," Jason said. Despite how it had pained him to do without since her mother had sequestered her, he was grateful to have something truthful to present in his defense.

Why should he get to do it at all?

"You're too young to be doing it at all," Audrey said.

After all, why should he get any when you're certainly not.

Jason's eyes widened. His mother's Aura slid dark tendrils between her legs, caressing her thighs and delta. More flowed over the swell of her bosom until the nipples tented her blouse.

You've done without for so long. He can certainly do it, too.

Audrey let out a slow, husky sigh. "You can do without it. You don't need it right now. Not with..."

Jason tensed, ready to bolt for the door.

Having sexy thoughts again, are you? the Darkness purred. You'll have to take care of that before you can go back to being the good little hostess.

Jason felt sick. He was gaining far more insight into his parents' sex lives than he had ever wanted.

"I promised I would listen to you, Jason, and I have heard nothing which would stop you from taking a part-time job this season," Audrey said, her voice slightly breathless. The rise of her nipples became more prominent. "So the moment something comes up, I want you to apply for it."

"Do you know of anything that will come up?" Jason asked.

Audrey hesitated. His question had been intended more for the Darkness, and he sensed it knew that. He had hoped to goad it into dropping a hint. Instead, it spoke to Audrey directly. Such a good mother. Audrey trembled, and her hips swayed. Such a good mother should have a properly obedient son.

Jason's hand clenched and unclenched. His heart thumped so hard his chest ached. He kept any thought which was even remotely sexual out of his mind. He thought again about bolting for the door but kept his eyes away from it. He sensed he was being observed, like a rat running a maze, seeing what he would do next so it could adapt the experiment. This was a level of sophistication of thought the Darkness had never shown before.

"Please don't disobey me this time, Jason," Audrey said. Her eyes shimmered, and in that moment, Jason thought he saw his mother struggling against thoughts and desires which terrified her as much as they aroused her.

Jason had been so worried about his own sensibilities he had never stopped to think how his mother felt. If some part of her had managed to resist, this was torture.

"Okay, Mom," Jason said.

Make him promise, the Darkness said in a tone of unmistakable delight. Hold him to his word.

"Promise me, Jason," Audrey said. "Promise me you'll apply for a job as soon as one is posted."

Jason assumed that no matter what he did, he was going to be maneuvered into it. The only difference was the means by which his compliance was attained. "I promise, Mom."

Audrey let out a slow, quavering sigh, and her lips curled into a contented smile. "Thank you. I knew I could count on you." She turned and headed towards the door. "I'll return the power cable to your computer before you go to bed this evening."

"Thanks, Mom," Jason said in a weak voice as she left the room, her Aura trailing in excited swirls in her wake.

Melinda breathed hard into her sister's thigh for another minute before she rolled onto her back, her breasts rippling for a few seconds until they settled. She closed her eyes and draped her arm across her forehead, her cheeks glistening with her sister's moisture. "Ohmigod, please say you've had enough," she piped in a breathy voice.

"I think so," came Heather's still husky voice from the other end of the bed. "Shit, why did you have to try and tell someone, runt?"

"Heather, get bent, okay? I told you he sounded like he thought something funny was going on."

"I think he just wanted to stick his cock inside you right from the start."

Melinda sat up and drew her feet towards her. "Lay off me for once!" she snapped. She heaved a sigh and said in a more contrite and almost pleading voice, "Heather, I don't want to argue with you, not when you have to go back to the perv principal tomorrow morning."

Heather slowly sat up. She ran her fingers through her hair, wincing as they caught a tangle. "Sorry," she said in a low voice.

"You're not, but that's okay."

"But, really, what made you do it?"

"I don't know! Even when I figured it out I couldn't stop him."

"And Ken's never come on to you before?"

"Never." She grasped her breasts and lifted them for a second before letting them bounce free. "But then again, last year I didn't have the boob-o-rama I do now."

Heather managed a small smirk. "I thought you wouldn't mind them being larger."

"Even if Ken was just trying to get into my panties -- when I'm allowed to wear them, that is -- he was right when he said this wasn't natural. I mean, come on, two cup sizes in two freaking months?!"

Heather blinked. "Two?"

"Yes, two," Melinda said, blushing. She folded her arms over her bosom. "And, no, you don't get to check. We've done it enough."

"I've been trying not to look too hard, Melinda," Heather said in a low voice.

Melinda sighed and dropped her arms. "Yeah, I know. You've been more bubbleheaded than usual with the sicko Ms. Bendon screwing with your head. I really wish we could stop her."

"Melinda, we've been over this. Please, stop trying to rescue me."

"But you can't keep doing this forever. You'll n-never want to stop being her slave."

Heather drew in a slow breath and let it go, her pussy tingling even after her intense orgasm by her little sister. Her Mistress's words still hovered in the dark recesses of her mind, softly whispering. She could resist them only because she was convinced she was enjoying some sort of protection from her mother. Once the morning came, the dam would burst, and she would be swept back into the tide of pleasure that was being her Mistress' obedient wet-pussy maid. "I think I know why Ken went after you, and why you couldn't stop," Heather said, forcing herself to keep her voice steady.

Melinda frowned. "You're just trying to change the subject. Fine. What's you big brainstorm?"

"It has something to do with the line, the one that ran through the House. I think ... I think it moved."

Melinda stared. "What the hell?"

"It moved. It's closer to us. Maybe it's running right under our house now."

"You can't freaking pick up a line and move it!"

"With the Book you could. Remember, Jason said there were spells in it for that. He said that was the real purpose of it anyway."

"But it was destroyed," Melinda said in a shrill voice. "You saw it in your vision. Even the Book itself knew it would be destroyed!"

Heather sighed. "I saw part of the book get destroyed. It still had a little bit left when I saw it drop into the pit."

Melinda's eyes widened. "Now you tell me?!"

"Now you lay off me, runt. It was still burning when it dropped. I thought it would keep burning. The Darkness was desperate for all that energy. How the fuck was I supposed to know it would keep part of it?"

Melinda clenched her hands into fists, then beat them once against her thighs. She let out a sigh as her shoulders slumped, sounding like a balloon deflating. "Shit, so much for trying to act more mature. It's no wonder I can't tell Jason I..."

Heather tilted her head when her sister trailed off. "Can't tell him what?"

Melinda looked up and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Yeah, right. What is it you can't tell him?"

"None of your business."

Heather smirked. "You're blushing."

"I am not!"

"If you don't tell me, I'm just going to keep guessing."

"God, you're such a bubblehead, really, if you haven't already figured it out."

Heather's smile widened. Melinda's lips curled into a ghost of one as well. Heather was taken back to the days right before they had encountered the House, a better time to which she wished they could return.

But then you wouldn't have learned a few things about yourself, would you? Heather thought, and wondered how much of the lingering resonance of Mara was behind those words. And Diane would still be suffering in the closet.

"You're in love with Jason, aren't you?" Heather said.

Melinda's cheeks became scarlet. "What if I am?" she said in a quavering voice.

"Well, what's wrong with that? I think that's great. So why can't you tell him?"

"I ... it's ... l-look, can we go back to talking about the line?" Melinda said.

Heather heard the desperation in her sister's voice. If time were not in such short supply, she'd press Melinda on the matter, but she had no idea how long her mother's protection against her Mistress' influence would hold. Already she had trouble keeping thoughts of Laura out of her head, the whispering becoming a siren song.

"How could just that part of the Book manage to survive?" Melinda piped.

"Look, forget the Book. However it happened, it happened. I think everyone at the house today was being affected."

"But I didn't see any Auras."

"Mrs. Radson said that if someone messes with the energy in the line it can influence stuff near it. So Ken was just being Ken, and the line made him ... well, be more like that."

"Did anything happen to you?"

"Almost," Heather said in a soft voice.

Melinda's eyes widened. "Who?"

"Uncle Charley."

Melinda wrinkled her nose. "Oh, ewww!"

"And Aunt Jo was asking about you. A lot."

"Oh, that's just ... that's even..."

Heather gave her sister a humorless smile. "Still affected by that?"

Melinda shuddered and folded her arms over her breasts to hide her stiffening nipples. "Yes," she said in a small voice. "Maybe I'd be over it if Mom didn't keep at me."

While Melinda had been held captive by Victor's cult, they had planted an alteration to her personality which left her with a strong sexual attraction to older women. She had yet to find a means to resist or remove it. Even before her mother had decided to keep her at home after school, she had kept her visits to Debby to a minimum.

"Maybe now you see why I don't want you trying to rescue me," Heather said in a soft voice.

Melinda shivered. "I just don't like feeling helpless, and that's all I've been for the last week."

Heather wanted to tell her sister that they would be able to talk to the rest of the Harbingers next week, but the words would not come. Mistress would not want her to say such things.

Her pussy suddenly swelled and ached, and her nipples tingled. Heat spread from her sex until her entire body felt flush with anticipation.

Melinda's eyes widened. "What's wrong with you?"

"What? Oh, nothing," Heather said in a soft, detached voice.

"Yes, there is! Your Aura's changing, and your voice sounds all slutty again."

Heather closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it go as a shaky sigh. "Mom's protection is wearing off."

"Stop saying that. She is not--!"

Melinda whipped her head around when the door to the bedroom opened.

Penny paused at the door with her hand still on the knob. She smiled and spoke in a soft and sultry voice. "Heather, I think it's time you get to bed."

Melinda stared. "Huh? It's barely dark outside!"

"Heather has to be up early. Ms. Bendon expects her back in time for breakfast."

Heather rose from the bed, picking up the damp towel she had spread under her hips. "I was hoping to stay up a little longer, Mom. Melinda and I were talking, and--"

"I'm sorry, but time for talking is over for tonight."

Melinda's eyes burned when Heather gave their mother a sheepish nod. "You're doing that to her," she muttered.

"Ms. Bendon was very particular about her wishes, Melinda," Penny said without looking in her direction. She took the towel from Heather. "As you well know, don't you, honey?"

Heather shivered as renewed moisture oozed in her folds. Her nipples throbbed with her heartbeat when her breasts swelled with her breath. Her temporary refuge of lucidity was swallowed up by the fog of arousal and obedience.

Melinda watched in helpless frustration as her mother retrieved the lacy black bra and panties and handed them to Heather. Heather uttered soft moans and breathless pants as she slipped into them. She let out a deep, husky sigh when the lace once more caressed her.

Penny lay a hand against Heather's cheek. "Feeling nice and sexy again?"

Heather trembled with the effort to resist one last time, until she realized what a bad girl she was for doing so. "Yes ... I feel so sexy ... so warm and wet..."

Melinda feigned sticking her finger down her throat.

"Melinda, get off your sister's bed and come here," Penny said in a gentle but firm voice.

Melinda shook her head and opened her mouth to protest, but that was as far as her own crumbling resistance would take her. Penny swayed her hips to one side and the other, her tight jeans hugging every contour. She leaned forward and let her breasts dangle against her shirt.

"Come here," Penny said. "Be my good little sexy girl and come here."

Melinda bit her lip to suppress a whimper as she slid off the bed. As soon as Melinda was close, Penny drew her into an embrace. Melinda's attempt to pull away was weak at best, fading to nothing when Penny lay her daughter's head against her bosom. Melinda shuddered, hips squirming as if already begging for her mother's touch.

"Go to bed, Heather," Penny said. "And have pleasant, sexy dreams."

Heather's eyes fell upon Melinda's trembling form, and it briefly rekindled her will. "Mom, what are you going to do with Melinda?"

Penny smiled. "Just some quality mother-daughter time. No need to concern yourself. Just think about your Mistress and how wonderful it will be to return to her."

Sweet desire, warm and Dark, spread through Heather's psyche until she longed to feel the touch of her maid uniform and high heels. She nodded and gave her mother a dreamy smile before slipping under the blankets. She was asleep and writhing in the throes of an erotic dream before the door had closed.

Melinda trotted alongside her mother despite all her attempts to do otherwise. She gave the top of the steps a forlorn look, all thoughts of escape dissolving when Penny tugged her hand and drew her close. She inhaled her mother's scent and let her breath out as a soft moan, shivering with renewed desire.

As she was drawn across the threshold of her parents' bedroom, she forced her voice to work. "Wh-why did you have to do that to Heather?" she said in a weak but shrill voice.

Penny closed the door and slid her hand along Melinda's side. Her daughter whimpered and squeezed her thighs in vain against the growing wet heat. "She has to be ready to go back to her Mistress by morning, honey."

"Then ... uhng ... th-then let me go to bed. It's..."

Her words dissolved into husky pants and whimpers as Penny's fingers slowly stroked her folds. She tried to pull away, but her hips squirmed and swayed in induced need. Penny slipped two fingers into her daughter's tunnel, and Melinda humped upon them.

"Not yet," Penny said softly. "Not before we have a little talk."

Melinda barely heard her mother. She was too caught up in the pleasure, her emotional exhaustion at the end of a trying day offering little resistance. With her free hand, Penny swirled her fingertips along the shaft of Melinda's clit, moving in time to Melinda's thrusts.

Melinda panted hard, her pleasure rising, plateauing, then rising again. She wanted to hump faster, but sensed her mother did not wish it. Her attempt to disobey exhibited itself as only a brief trembling which disappeared after another spike of pleasure rose and throbbed in her nipples.

Penny withdrew both hands. Melinda bit her lip to suppress a disappointed whimper. "Honey, this is very important. You need to stay closer to family over the next few weeks."

Melinda fought to form any words other than "I'll do whatever you want" in her head. She forced them from her mouth in a rush before they could be swept away. "Y-you're already doing that to me. You're going to go back to making me stay naked all the time."

Penny smiled and caressed her daughter's cheek. "Don't you want to be naked?"

Melinda shivered. "Y-yes ... I feel s-so sexy like this."

Penny gazed into her daughter's dark and glistening eyes. She cupped one of Melinda's breasts and squeezed. Melinda moaned in delight, yet her mother did not appear satisfied, her eyes distant and subdued. "But I don't think it will be enough. I think you would still find a way."