Ned Lussander coaxed her to come to the house just for some private time. He had not intended to take it beyond that. Then, as they sat on the sofa, he kissed her as a simple sign of affection, and vowed not to let it go beyond that. Then he poised himself to nudge her back before it could get too hot and heavy.

But Cassie was too horny from the start, and the kiss shattered what little control she had. Cassie moaned into his mouth and escalated the kiss to the point where now he was too horny to stop. He did finally break off the kiss, but now one of his hands kneaded her breast through her blouse.

Cassie shuddered and pressed her hands to Ned's chest, her sultry eyes gazing into his. Ned felt her hands trembling, nudging him, then stopping, then nudging him again. His hand slowed. Cassie's lips parted as the words almost came to her to tell him to stop. Then her thighs quivered again as moist heat oozed in her sex.

Ned drew in a deeper breath, his nostrils flaring. His eyes widened at the powerful musk of her arousal, even through her clothing. The next time her hands nudged him, he leaned forward and pushed back.

Cassie withdrew her hands and fumbled with her blouse until it parted and fell away from her lacy white bra. Her nipples ached, as hard as her pussy was wet. She gasped when Ned hooked his fingers into the cups and yanked them upward, spilling the soft pillows of her breasts over her chest.

Ned grasped them in his fingers, rubbing her nipples as he squeezed the pliant flesh. She fell onto her back and writhed, shoving her hips against his body. His growing erection dug into her crotch, eliciting a rising moan from between Cassie's lips.

Cassie tugged her bra from her body and tossed it aside, letting it land where it may on the floor. She tried to shimmy out of her skirt, failed, and cast an imploring look at Ned.

Ned finally slowed his carnal rush, gathering his wits about him enough to ask himself what was wrong with Cassie. His ego insisted her increased libido was her helpless attraction to his wonderful physique, but even through his hormone haze he had more realistic impressions of his own looks.

It was hard for him to act on his concerns with a near naked and willing girl squirming in wet sexual heat under him.

He helped her remove her skirt, and was surprised by the intense dark stain on her panties and the moisture coating the insides of her thighs. Cassie had never appeared this aroused, and his own nether regions now felt too confined.

Ned was forced to stand up long enough to strip off his own pants and underwear. Cassie tore her sodden panties from her body. Despite her enthusiasm, her cheeks pinked as she spread her legs, as if vaguely embarrassed by her own wanton display of sexual need.

Guilt shadowed Ned's thoughts. His constant half-joking reminders of his lust for her seemed less amusing now. He might have made things worse if Cassie had not yet come to terms with her new sexuality.

Shit, what a time to have a moral dilemma, he thought. Good going, Nose.

Ned the Nose was what most the school called him. He appeared as if he took it in stride, but he nonetheless reserved the term as his own private insult when he was really upset with himself.

Ned dropped to his knees beside the sofa. Cassie let out her breath in an excited sigh and shifted herself on the cushions. Her blush deepened. She felt as if she were presenting her pussy for inspection. Yet her thighs quaked and her body flushed hot at the idea. Her eyes burned with uncharacteristic intensity of desire. Something in the back of her mind screamed that this was not normal, that she would never surrender so completely to lust. It could not overcome her excitement.

A few seconds later, she no longer cared. Ned wrapped his arms around her thighs, and his tongue lapped at her swollen clit. Cassie let out a shuddering moan and closed her eyes, her whole body trembling.

Ned would always remember how scared he was the first time he did this. He had been sure that she would recoil in revulsion at that horrible thing he had for a nose getting this close to her intimate regions.

Damn, this is crazy, isn't it? he thought only half in amusement.

By all rights, he should not even be there. If it had not been for a naughty nurse with supernatural powers, he would be just The Nose. Instead, he got in with a crowd that included Heather Sovert, the most popular girl in school at the time, Cassie Kendall, the richest, and Jason Conner, the brainiest.

Cassie writhed so much that Ned had to tighten his grip about her legs. Wow, she's really freakin' off the charts, Ned thought.

Another time, Ned would finish it off with him inside her. But the guilt that had crept over him earlier now felt like it would taint any enjoyment. He realized that Cassie had tried to tell him that something was amiss, but he had pushed her into more sex anyway. He knew she was nervous about where it was sending her Dream Gift, and he had not listened.

"Ned ... oh God ... I-I'm getting ... you need to ... ohh! ... oh my! ... ohhhh!"

Cassie cried out as she crested, her pussy throbbing so hard under Ned's relentless tongue that she could not speak. Her hands curled into fists as her climax swept over her. It seemed more intense each time, as if it had become amplified along with her Gift.

She had never referred to it as a Gift, not until Debby Radson had. As a practicing Witch, Mrs. Radson had given Cassie more insights into her own ability than perhaps she had wanted. Until then, she had not wanted to acknowledge that her ability was anything special. For the longest time, she had tried to be anything but special.

Her orgasm abated along with the whirlwind of thoughts, but not her desire. Ned smiled wanly and rose, wiping her fluids from his face and trying to ignore the aching hardness between his legs.

Cassie looked up at him. Her eyes widened and she shivered.

Ned's smile faded, and now his guilt was joined by dread. "Um ... everythin' okay, babe? I mean ... that was ... ya enjoyed that, right?"

"What? Oh ... yes ... Yes, I did, very much, but ..."

Ned swallowed. Yeah, this is it. It's the nose. She can't ...

"Ned, please, come here."

Ned paused. "Um ..."

Cassie wrapped her arms around herself and moaned. "P-please, Ned. I-I'm still ... I ..." Her cheeks glowed a furious pink-red, and she said in a very small voice, "I need more."

Ned was sure he had not heard her correctly. His body refused to wait for his mind to catch up. It already carried him down to the sofa, whereupon Cassie grasped his arms and pulled him down atop her. "Oh wow, you only just ... you can't still be ..."

Cassie was not listening. Her hands slid to his hips and pulled him forward. She stared at his cock as it bobbed under him. Ned's head caught up with his body, and he guided himself the rest of the way. His cock sank into her with a soft squishing sound that astonished him.

"Oh man," Ned moaned as he started to thrust. "Damn, Cassie, this is nuts."

"I-I know," Cassie breathed. "S-something's not right, but ... oh goodness, I can't talk ... just ... just keep going ..."

Ned didn't want to talk, he wanted to fuck, failing his vow to never let himself think of what he did with Cassie as "fucking." She seemed too genteel and nice for something as crass as that. Nice girls didn't fuck, they made love.

I do love her, dammit! he shouted at himself in his head, and was immediately embarrassed by his own admission.

The old fear returned, that he was somehow influencing her into becoming a sex kitten for him, that he still retained some power of control he had while in Nurse Nyssa's thrall, before Cassie had saved him from doing something stupid and ruining someone else's life as well as his own.

Cassie uttered a moan that was almost mournful. Ned didn't understand until Cassie opened her arms. He lowered himself to her until she could wrap his arms around him and pull him close.

"That's better," Cassie moaned into his ear. "I-I just want you close to me."

Ned let out the breath he was holding and settled into her. His cock slipped deeper inside her.

Cassie gasped and squirmed. "That's even better!"

Ned rocked his hips, and she picked up the rhythm seconds later. Cassie's lustful pants softened into contented sighs. Ned's conscience eased. This was more what he thought she wanted. There was still no lack of passion on Cassie's part. She thrust her hips to his with desperate urgency, and her legs locked around him as if she were afraid he would pull away. They tightened the higher she rose, until cords of muscle grew taut along her thighs.

Ned turned his head to the side. One of her brown curls tickled his nose and filled his lungs with light perfume in his next breath. He thought he loved the scent of Cassie's arousal, but sometimes this sent more of a thrill through him.

Heh, whaddaya know, the Nose gets romantic, he thought with amusement.

Cassie pulled him into a tight hug. Her breath was hot in his ear as she rose in perfect concert with him. Jason had said something about this, that partnered Harbingers all seemed to have their orgasms in sync. Ned had not experienced this with Cassie until fairly recently.

Now it could not have been any better if it had been scripted.

Ned fought his near frantic need to cum. She clung to him even more as she rose to meet him, her panting breath turning to moans and then low cries. He felt the press of her bosom against his chest and heard the soft wet sounds where their bodies joined, which became soft slaps when both gave in and rutted to consummate the act.

Cassie let out a shrill cry. Ned came so hard his throat simply locked up at first. When it loosened, he let out a guttural grunt and had already expended half his load. His breath started again as rapid-fire pants, his body trembling as he struggled to maintain pace against her still sensitive clit.

Finally spent, Ned groaned and collapsed against Cassie. Her body was already limp, though her pussy tingled from the lingering contact with his semi-hard cock. She nudged him, afraid that the constant pressure would just send her into another paroxysm of lust.

Ned pulled himself up and scrambled to the other side of the sofa. He groaned once more, this time in despair, and dropped his face into his hands.

Cassie sat up and cast a forlorn look at her lover. "Ned, it's not your fault."

Ned spoke without looking up. "C'mon, babe, no way you'd wanna do that with me normally."

Cassie looked confused. "What?"

"Face it, I'm a freakin' beanpole with legs and a schnozz that needs its own zip code."

"Ned ..."

"I got no money, no looks, no talent ..."

"Ned!"

"Only way I can get some is if I mess with her head ..."

"Ned!"

Ned lifted his head and flinched. Cassie had crawled across the sofa until her face was hovering inches from his. A gentle smile played across her mouth. She leaned towards him, planting a soft kiss on his lips. Ned was too shocked to reply.

"Stop it," Cassie said, her voice low and but firm. "Just stop it."

"But ... but, babe, ya even said yerself this wasn't normal."

"I know. It's not. But first of all, it's my sexual desire that's been manipulated, not my ... my other feelings for you."

Ned was stunned into silence. Other feelings for you. He had not dared to think that Cassie could feel anything more "serious" towards him. His elation crashed when he contemplated her other words. "Cassie, I'm tryin' not ta mess with ya, but I jus' don't know how I'm s'posed ta turn it off!"

"It's not you, Ned, I've been telling you that over and over again," Cassie said, a touch of exasperation in her voice. "But now I think I do know who's been doing it."

Ned's eyes widened, then narrowed to angry slits. He jumped to his feet, hands balled into fists. "Oh yeah? Well, jus' tell me who the chump is and I'll go pound on 'im. Is it that walking slab-o-beef Brad? Not enough he fucked with Heather when--"

Cassie stood and placed a hand on Ned's shoulder. "Please, calm down. It's not Brad, and you know that he was being controlled by Melissa when that happened." She had noticed the sad and guilty looks that Brad was giving Heather at school. She had hoped the others had seen it as well.

"C'mon, babe, we hafta do something! Look, I promise I won't go gunnin' fer him alone. Who is it?"

Cassie let out a long sigh. "It's Heather."

Ned stared. "Huh?"

Cassie dropped onto the sofa. "I only figured it out today."

Ned felt as if he had just been told that the sky would be green instead of blue starting today. He shook his head and sat down next to her. "Ya lost me here, babe. I don't get it."

"It's the only thing that fits. It seems like the past few days, every time I've spoken with Heather, and she mentions anything the least bit sexual, I start getting ... um ... well, you know."

"Hornier than all get out?"

Cassie blushed. "Yes, that. But it's not just me. I think she's been doing it to Jason, too. And Melinda and Diane."

"Whoa, wait. Melinda I know about, that was sorta Nyssa's doin'. And Diane, well, we found out she's got a sorta submissive thing goin' anyway. And I thought Jason was kinda the same way, something else left over from Nyssa."

Cassie shivered, her nipples hardening from cold rather than desire. They had not turned up the thermostat since they arrived, and now her own internal sexual heat no longer sustained her. She stood and gathered her clothes. "Jason has pretty much thrown off that effect. He stands up to Melinda all the time and doesn't let her wrap him around her finger anymore. But Heather is managing to make him have sex with her."

"Huh. Melinda can't be a happy camper over that."

"I imagine not, no." Cassie spotted Ned's briefs and tossed them to him. "You better get dressed, too. I think Heather is going to be coming over here later."

Ned slipped his briefs back on. "Well, mebbe we should stick around and give Heather a talkin'-to."

"I don't think that would be a good idea, not if she's coming here with the intent to ... um ... "

"Oh, yeah, right." Ned paused and grinned. "Afraid I'd be pulled inta some kinda orgy with her?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm afraid of."

Ned's grin faded.

Cassie sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound snappish. You'd probably be able to tell her 'no,' but it would just cause more trouble and bad feelings. I want to talk to Jason separately about this."

Ned nodded, a humorless smirk curling his lips. "Huh. And all this time we've been worried about protectin' Heather from whatever might happen ta her on Halloween. Now we hafta protect us from her."

"I'm still worried about Halloween," Cassie said as she straightened her pleats. "Whatever Heather is doing, I don't think she realizes it, and I don't think it has to do with the Darkness. She doesn't have an Aura." She paused. "It might have something to do with the other problem Heather told me about ..."

Cassie told him about the missed periods. When it looked like Ned was about to jump out of his skin in panic, Cassie had to quickly reassure him. "Ned, I am not pregnant. I've been on the pill for awhile now. If it will make you feel better, you can get me one of those pregnancy test kits, but I'm sure it will come back clear."

Ned could not imagine himself walking into a pharmacy to buy one, but he knew it would be impossible for Cassie to do so. Someone would recognize her, the daughter of the very rich and very influential Kendall family, and the rumors would start. That no scrutiny had come to Cassie as yet was a minor miracle, in his view.

"So whadda we do now?" Ned asked as he pulled on his jeans.

Cassie strolled over to a mirror above the hearth and arranged her curls back into some semblance of order, at least enough so Harry would not suspect anything was amiss. "I'll talk to Jason tonight. I think we need to get everyone together to discuss this."

"If Heather don't turn it into an orgy, ya mean."

"With everyone there, I think we can keep things under control."

"I hear ya. And mebbe Richie bein' there would help. Don't seem like he's been affected by her."

Cassie suspected that part of the reason was that Heather still loathed Richie. Heather would not admit it, but Cassie could see it. More worrisome was that Richie had been distancing himself from the Harbingers lately.

She speculated that his reasons included his own ability. Richie was never comfortable with his power to see so clearly into the past. All he had to do was touch an item that was involved and stand at the location where it was held, and he would see a past event unfold before him as if he were there.

The cold clarity of Richie's visions made Cassie wonder why Heather's visions of the future were not as clear. It was the perfect complimentary power to Richie's. She had contemplated that was the reason Heather was trying to gather so much sexual energy, but why did Heather need such vast reserves and Richie did not?

Cassie turned from the mirror and stepped back over to Ned with a wan smile. "Ned, I really do enjoy sex with you. But I do wish I got to choose the time better and didn't feel so compelled."

Ned grasped her hand and squeezed it, grinning. "Thanks, babe. Ya think this will boost yer Dream power more?"

Cassie looked troubled. "I'm hoping not, to be honest."

"Well, jus' try it out tonight. I'm game."

"You know I don't feel right about this, Ned."

"Babe, c'mon, I want ya to do this. I wanna be an open book to ya."

Cassie shuddered, barely visible, as if she had tried to suppress it. Her insights into Ned's life disturbed her. Not him, but his family. "Dysfunctional" was too mild a term for what she saw.

"Ya told me yerself, ya gotta do it," Ned said. "Ya can't turn it off. If it's not me yer doin' it to, it would hafta be someone else. Least I'm willin'."

Cassie nodded. "All right. But I am going to be looking for some way to suppress this, so I do it only when I want to." She glanced at the clock. "We better get going before Harry starts looking for us in the park. I just wish I could get my hair in better shape."

Ned grinned. "Hey, not ta worry. If Harry sez something about it, we'll tell him the truth."

Cassie blanched. "The truth?"

"Yeah, that a buncha crazed fashion ninjas jumped out at us and started messin' with yer hair. I, naturally, fought them off with nothin' but my fists and a paper clip bent inta a makeshift shuriken."

Cassie laughed. Ned smiled. That was that best sound in the world to him at that moment.

Heather buttoned her blouse and stared at herself in the mirror over the bathroom sink with wide and slightly wild eyes. Her bosom swelled and stretched the fabric as she breathed. She turned to one side and then the other. She sifted her hair through her fingers and let it spill over her shoulders.

Heather sighed and shook her head.

She rushed back into the bedroom just as the phone rang downstairs. "Melinda, get that, I'm busy!" Heather shouted towards the open door.

"Yes, of course, my Queen!" rose Melinda's voice from below. "The royal maid will answer the royal phone for the royal pain in the--"

"Whatever, runt, just answer it!"

Heather pulled off her blouse, her large breasts bouncing in the cups of her bra as she raced to her closet. Her nipples rose to excited points in anticipation. She threw the first blouse aside and yanked another from its hanger.

She ran back into the bathroom as she donned the new blouse. She smiled at her reflection as she buttoned it. This blouse was bought two cup sizes ago. She had to hold herself to shallow breaths to properly button it. Yet once she was done, some of her smile faded. No, it still wasn't quite right.

Heather turned her head towards the door when she thought she heard Melinda shout. It sounded like she was arguing with someone on the phone. Heather shook her head and ignored it.

Heather stared at herself and sighed. Her eyebrows rose when an idea came to her.

She shed her blouse and unclasped her bra, tossing it aside. With a growing smile again, she put the blouse back on. She let out a deep, sultry sigh as the taut fabric slid over her sensitized nipples, warmth flooding over her and centering in her pussy.

Heather dropped her hands and turned one way and then the other. Her breasts jiggled with her movements, the button-holes stretching and allowing a teasing glimpse of her cleavage. She leaned forward so they would dangle a bit and swell further against her blouse. The top button popped open. "Yeah, that works," she said, redoing the button as she turned away from the mirror.

She reentered the bedroom. Downstairs, the phone call was ended with a violent slam of the phone to its cradle. Heather crouched by the bottom drawer of her dresser and rummaged for the box of condoms as heavy footsteps thundered up the stairs.

"What now?" Heather muttered before she could catch herself.

Heather stood just as her little sister Melinda burst into the room, her long straight rust-brown hair flying in disarray. Melinda brushed a few errant strands from brown eyes that burned. "I'll tell you what now!" she screeched. "You're a big fucking putz, that's what now!"

Heather had no reply, her gaze fixed on her little sister.

"Little" was less apropos with each passing week. Melinda had moved up yet another bra size, now only one behind Heather, and her hips flared with the curve of full femininity. Heather wondered if Haven itself was causing her sister's sudden spurt of maturation.

Melinda's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you staring at?"

Heather sighed. "Nothing, Melinda."

"You better not be staring at anything, if you get what I mean."

"I'm not interested in you this morning, runt."

"No, of course not, because you want to go make my boyfriend boink you again!"

My boyfriend -- emphasize on the my -- was the way Melinda referred to Jason with increasing regularity now, as if establishing possession over him like she would her bed or her side of the bedroom.

"I don't make Jason do anything," Heather said as she turned back towards her dresser to retrieve her wallet and keys.

"Yes, you do! You're doing it to him like you do to me."

"Don't be stupid, Melinda. Nyssa never made me control him."

"Well, then, you figured out how to do it yourself."

Heather intended to give her sister an annoyed look, yet her eyes flicked over Melinda's frame, lingering first on the swell of her bosom under her shirt and then the tight crotch of her jeans.

"Don't lie to me, Heather, okay?" Melinda said in a softer voice. "That was Jason on the phone. We were supposed to spend time together today and now he tells me he'll be late because he has to see you."

Heather frowned. He had asked Jason not to mention anything to Melinda, that she would take care of it. She thought she had made Jason ... she thought she had convinced Jason of that. "Look, I'm just going to talk to him, okay?"

The return of Melinda's anger was swift. "Liar."

"I am. I'm ... I'm going to talk to him about, you know, our missed periods."

"What, you're such a bubblehead that you forget how to use the telephone? It's usually glued to your ear on weekends anyway."

Heather leaned forward and hissed, "I am not going to discuss something like that on the telephone, you midget!"

Melinda's eyes narrowed as Heather's breasts dangled against her blouse. "Wait, what gives with your ..." Her eyes widened to saucers. "Ohmigod, you little slut!"

Heather flinched as if slapped. "What did you just call me?"

Melinda's hands clenched into fists. "You're not wearing a bra!"

"I ... well ... yeah, okay, so?"

"If all you want to do is talk to him, why the fuck are your boobs flapping in the wind like that?!"

Heather smirked. "Oh yeah, and why are you so interested in my boobs now, huh?"

"I am not ... I ..." Melinda trailed off. Moist heat surged in her sex. Her eyes widened, anger turning to fury. "Oh no you don't! You're not going to try to distract me like that! I can resist it, you know."

Heather snorted. "Yeah, right, runt."

"I can, too! Jason told me he read something about it in that journal Susan's Mom gave him. He told me how it's supposed to work. You just have to--"

Heather sighed in exasperation and ran her hands through her hair. Her nipples tingled to the point of distraction and her panties were already damp. She had to resist the urge to relieve some of the pressure herself, even though it would do her little good in the long run. "Look, talk to me about it later, okay? I really have to go see Jason."

She started for the door. Melinda rushed back and locked her hands around opposite sides of the door frame.

"Get out of the way, runt," Heather growled.

"You want to go see my boyfriend? Fine. I'm going with you."

"You can't. Mom said you had to do your chores while--"

"She's not here, and I frankly don't give a shit what she wants anymore!"

Heather was not surprised to hear that. Ever since their mother Penny prevented Melinda from helping her fellow Harbingers against Melissa by keeping her in a sexual frenzy, Melinda had forged a burning hatred of their mother that had not abated.

"You can't come with me, Melinda," said Heather.

"Why the hell not? If all you're going to do is talk, why can't I come along? No, I'll answer that for you. Because you're a liar and you really are going to get him to boink you!"

Heather was desperate. Her breath was growing short from the heat of her arousal. Going without a bra may have been a bad idea after all. Her nipples rubbed against her blouse with her every movement, driving her crazy with lust. Her panties were damp.

I'll have him do my boobs first, Heather thought. I love it when he does that and fingers me at the same time. Maybe I'll have him lick my pussy after that. Yeah, and squirt all over his face. That would ...

Heather closed her eyes and lay a hand against her cheek as her thoughts spun. It was not a lie, she was not making anyone do anything. She would just ... persuade him, that's all. She never made Melinda do anything she didn't want to.

She could only make Melinda horny enough to not want to resist.

"Stop ignoring me, you bubblehead!" Melinda cried, stamping her foot.

Heather's eyes flew open. She stared at Melinda. Yes, that was the answer. That would take care of it.

Melinda gasped. "Wait, what are you ...? You're not ... Heather, no, stop ..."

Heather relaxed. The corners of her lips twitched upwards.

Melinda let out a husky sigh, her eyes turning dark and sultry. Her thighs trembled, and her hips squirmed. "That's n-not ... y-you're not going to shut me up like that, Heather."

Heather smiled and stepped forward. Melinda unlocked her shaking fingers from the door frame. She stumbled back a half-step into the hallway until her legs would take her no further. "Stop it," she moaned.

Heather lifted a hand. Melinda whimpered when her sister's hand brushed against her breast. Heat rushed over her and gathered in her sex.

"I'm not ignoring you now, am I?" Heather said.

Melinda shuddered in mounting lust. "This isn't fair," she mewled.

"What? That I've decided you can come along?"

"H-huh? But--"

"Or don't you want to have Jason fuck you, too?"

"What?? You mean ... ohmigod, you really were going to ... no ..."

Heather dropped her hand from Melinda's breast and grasped the top of the zipper on Melinda's jeans. Melinda stumbled back and fetched up against the wall of the hallway. She could only watch as her sister's fingers slipped past the zipper and squished against her wet panties.

Melinda opened her mouth to protest, but it came out as a lusty moan instead. She quivered and panted at the delightful, teasing strokes against her slick mound.

"You can come with me, Melinda," Heather said in a husky voice. "And I'll have Jason fuck you. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Melinda could only nod. Heather's fingers peeled the soaked fabric back and touched needy flesh. Melinda shuddered, her hips squirming even as her eyes shied away from her sister's gaze.

Heather's hand faltered, paused, and dropped away. She took a step back, her own gaze clouded. Some of the pall of lust over Melinda eased.

Melinda struggled to regain her composure, but it was impossible. She had only whatever small amount of leeway Heather allowed her. It was no longer an all-consuming, sex-starved hunger, but her pussy remained wet and wanting, and the erotic imagery frolicked in her mind. Her thoughts were filled with Jason's cock in her pussy and her lips pressed against her sister's mound.

"I'm sorry," Heather said in a tiny voice.

Melinda's eyes snapped to her sister, and she managed enough resistance for anger to flash in them for a second. "Heather, we can't ... we can't just do it like that, not without--"

"I still have condoms in the drawer."

"But I don't like--"

Heather sighed. Her own hips tried to squirm like Melinda's. "I'm sorry, but I don't care. You're going to come with me, and you're going to do what I want for once."

Melinda's hands clenched into fists, but relented when another wave of sexual heat crashed over her.

"Now stop being a brat, Melinda, and just ... " Heather paused, then gave Melinda a nervous smile. "And just be my horny good little girl."

The old house that was Gina's home once faced a cattle run and grazing fields, just across a tiny stream from its expansive front porch. Now the stream had been diverted and filled in, the run had been replaced with a neatly paved road that was Fairview Drive, and the fields were another lot of Haven suburbia.

Yet one link to Haven's past remained, and Gina had found it not far from her home the first time she had been allowed to leave the house unattended.

Every walk she took began the same way. She headed north up Fairview until she came to where a wide, dirt road fetched up against the side of the pavement, not more than fifty feet from the porch. Not even a perfunctory connection between the two roads had been attempted. No dirt or gravel had been swept to the side of Fairview, yet no one had ever erected a fence to prevent access.

The road stretched to the southeast, covered in a blanket of windswept snow atop a carpet of dead aspen leaves. Bare white trunks thrust into the leaden sky and waved in the breeze. Gina pulled up the collar of her coat when she stepped onto the old road, as it funneled even the smallest breeze into a steady wind at her back.

Gina's feet crunched against the snow as she traversed this small remnant to where it crossed Old Fairview Drive. She loved this walk. The trees and the wind masked any evidence of civilization. In the summer, the wind came from the east and filled the air with fluffy white seeds of the cottonwoods along the river, making it look like a snowstorm in July.

And the quiet made it easier for her to think on her own.

More so these last few months, where it seemed that walking away from her house allowed a pall to lift. The meaning mystified her. It could not mean that she felt the need to be away from her mother. If anything, Gina should feel ...

(submissive)

... solace in her mother's company. She thought no ill of Roberta, of course. She felt only ...

(obedience)

... love towards her mother. Roberta was a wonderful role model. She was dedicated and loving, and worked hard to provide for Gina and see to ...

(training)

... raising her properly, even with the added burden of no husband. Her mother never talked about Gina's father much, other than to say that he left her very soon after ...

(breeding)

... siring Gina. Nothing more would be spoken on the subject. Roberta had made it very clear that it was not Gina's place to question the matter again. She should simply ...

(obey)

... accept it without ...

... without ...

Gina stopped. As if responding in kind, the wind died, and she was left in complete and undisturbed silence. The sharp chill to the air fell away, leaving her in a void, a small spot against the canvas of a universe that suddenly became unfathomable to her. Even the intimately familiar road she stood upon seemed alien, as if she had just stepped out of a dream.

Such a feeling was no stranger, but it never happened while she was wide awake and alert. It was more familiar when she hovered at the edge of sleep at night, only to be gone by the morning.

She sensed something odd in her head, like words whispered in her ear yet spoken from a great distance, trying to influence her to ...

(control)

... to control ...

There! She heard it that time. It had happened before. Words and concepts that were both intimate and alien, welling up from nothing. But what was it?

(use your own judgment)

Her mother's sex talk. So abrupt. Acceptance eluded her. She had listened as a duty, because she had little choice but to ...

(obey)

...

Gina felt weak. She stumbled with her next step, a fall on her face in the snow stopped by an aspen she held with a trembling hand. A realization or epiphany lay just beyond her grasp. She just needed to stretch her reach towards it.

(use your own judgment)

That was the trigger. Just those words spoken by her mother had sparked something.

Gina had been her mother's good little girl for so long. As she hit puberty, the strings had loosened. Gina could form her own opinions that did not necessarily toe the line with her mother, even if she never revealed them. But then the sex talk came, and she was expected to be the good little girl again.

The conflict became clearer in her mind. But then that meant ...

... it meant ...

She raised her eyes and peered down the road, as if she had caught movement at the edge of her vision. The road remained deserted. Clumps of dried grass thrust crisp blades through the snow cover, unwavering in dead-still air. The silence had become absolute.

She lifted her hand from the trunk and stepped out into the road, the crunch of her footfalls on crusted snow and old leaves echoing in her ears.

The answers are there, ahead of you.

Gina had no idea where the idea came from. It had simply sprung into her mind fully formed. Was it even her thought, or just more quiet whisperings?

(use your own judgment)

You can have the answers you seek.

Gina took a deep breath and let it go. She shivered as the wind suddenly whipped around her, sweeping loose snow in eddies and swaying the branches until they lashed at the sky. Yes, she did have questions. So many questions. But could she find the answers on her own?

(use your own ...)

It's only a little ways ahead. It will become clear then.

Gina's legs trembled, as if eager to move. She was so certain that understanding would indeed come to her soon, just with a short walk to the end of this road remnant. But why was she so certain? She had only just begun to come to grips with the growing contradictions in her life, and now the answer was already there?

She remembered an optical illusion she had seen once. It was a picture that revealed the face of an old crone when observed one way, but yielded the swanlike neck and chin of a young girl when observed another way. Now she felt she was expected to see both at once.

(use your ...)

Peace of mind is knowing what is right and what is wrong.

Gina swallowed and nodded. It made a little more sense to her, at least enough to pique her curiosity. She wanted to see for herself, even if she had no idea whatsoever what she should be seeing.

Gina walked. The trees thinned, and narrow gaps appeared in the snow where an old cattle guard lay rusting in the ground just short of the edge of Old Fairview Drive. Old Fairview was a dirt road as well, but graded and maintained, as it still serviced the scant few ranches still extant at its extreme south end. The snow still covering the road was streaked with truck and tractor tracks.

Straddling the southwest corner of the intersection was a small cemetery.

Gina shivered, her eyes darting. The cemetery itself had not provoked her anxiety, but rather its state. The browning, dried remains of weeds broke up the snow cover, and many of the headstones were cracked and crumbling. The fence that once rose about its perimeter lay in collapsed, rusting ruin. An old padlock still held closed a gate that no longer barred passage.

Yet as Gina stared at the cemetery, the sense of sad abandonment faded.

A place of peace and solace.

Gina let out a slow sigh, and her eyes became less anxious. Where she got the idea that she had to shun such a place escaped her. It looked quite peaceful and relaxing. Even ... even ...

Come in, Gina, it's quite nice here.

... inviting, in its own way.

Gina blinked. Her vision shimmered for a second. The place was not as run-down as she had thought. Someone had even cleared out some of the weeds and did a few repairs. The headstones stood in neater ranks, now properly aligned with their graves. But the fence, it was still ...

She blinked again. No, the fence had been mended as well. Handsome wrought iron bars fashioned into gentle waves rose in regular precession about the perimeter of the cemetery. Yet how would she get in if the gate were still ...

The gate stood wide open, and seemed to beckon to her.

With increasing confidence, she edged around the side of the cemetery and onto Old Fairview, then down the narrow path that wound towards the gate. The chill of the morning fell away from her again, as if waves of comforting warmth emanated from the cemetery. Even the old dead tree in the center of ...

Well, no, it really wasn't dead, was it? It was just dormant for the winter. There, she could see the carpet of dead leaves around it now. Odd that she had not seen that before.

"Good morning."

Gina spun around.

Just off to the side of the entrance was a bench of wood and stone, and sitting upon it was a man with dark black hair and penetrating slate-gray eyes. His dark brown trench-coat lay open, the top few buttons of his shirt open in relaxed indifference towards the cold. Black gloves wrapped his hands like a second skin.

He smiled, exposing perfect white teeth. He radiated warmth, calm, and friendliness.

"Please," said the stranger, tapping the seat next to him with his gloved hand. "Come and sit and enjoy this lovely fall morning with me."

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