Cassie's fingers curled hard into Ned's shoulders each time his body shifted above her, leaving faint red crescents where her nails dug into his skin to the breathy mantra of "don't stop." Ned slammed into her, his pants of exertion and mounting pleasure mingling with the creak of the bedsprings and the groan of the floorboards. Cassie thrust her hips to his in time with his down-stroke, gasping with a need that was almost painful, whimpering as her pleasure rose but did not crest.

Through the haze of desire she understood that her body was waiting for him. Just like the others, neither of them could climax before his or her partner. Cassie trembled at the precipice of orgasm, both body and mind screaming for release, perspiration dotting her skin despite the drafty room.

Every nerve of her sex was on fire, the flames burning away any rational thought. She did not recognize herself. This horny, wet-pussied girl was not someone she knew. Her own thoughts seemed alien to her. Even with Ned's cock filling her, images of Jason, Heather, Melinda, and Diane flitted through her head, exciting her as much as Ned ever could. Even Richie, the person she once tried to control when she was under Nyssa's thrall, even he appeared to her as if ...

No ... no more ... no more of this ...

Her silent plea went unheeded, and her visions taunted her with erotic delights she never dared imagine as Ned panted hard into her ear. His climax was seconds away, but not fast enough for Cassie.

"Make me cum ... oh, God, please make me cum ..." Cassie heard herself beg in a husky, quavering voice. "Please ... please! ... make ... uhhhnn! ... OHHHH!!"

Ned groaned and shuddered as his cock throbbed hard inside Cassie's suddenly very tight cunt. The muscles in his rear trembled and clenched, his cock moving in slow, measured strokes. Cassie gasped and wrapped her arms around him, breathing hard into his ear and shoving her hips against him to force his cock to fill her once more. Her thoughts fought to stay afloat above the whirlpool of emotions ravaged by the hard throbbing of her orgasm.

Should have ... better if I ... you were needed ... not good enough unless every ...

"Uhhngg ..." Cassie's arms loosened. The odd, disjointed snippets of thought dissolved as her climax ebbed, like a fading whisper in her ear. She opened her eyes, looking up at him in silent question.

"Jeez, Cassie, that was ... I ... wow," Ned panted. The post-coital ache in his cock spread to the spent muscles of his rear and thighs.

Cassie closed her eyes again. She wanted to reach out to the thoughts that had slipped away from her, but there was nothing for her to find. She was sure she had sensed something, but it eluded her.

Ned touched Cassie's arm. "Um, you okay, babe?"

Cassie smiled and lay a hand against his cheek. A residual heat lingered in her pussy, as if some small part of her was still left unsatisfied. She had the urge to rub her sex against his flagging cock until he was hard again, but ...

It's too late, and this is not the right place.

Cassie uttered a short gasp. Her eyes widened, and her hand withdrew from Ned's cheek.

"What is it?" Ned asked.

"Did you just say something to me?"

"Jus' when I asked if ya was okay."

"No, not that, I ... um ... never mind."

Ned grasped the hand that had touched his cheek and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Ya sure yer okay?"

"I don't know. I thought I heard something."

Ned looked up, and his body tensed. "Oh, crap, was it the front door? Shit, I didn't think Mom woulda--"

"No, stop. I didn't hear the door, that wasn't it."

Ned listened for himself and let out a windy sigh. "Jeez, don't do that to me."

Cassie sat up, her hand squeezing his. "Sorry. Maybe 'heard' isn't the right word. It was more like a thought ... like ..."

She trailed off as her eyes became unfocused. Ned recognized the start of one of her introspective trances and let out a tiny sigh through his nose. He could only remain patient while she tuned out the rest of the world.

Cassie's eyes became distant. It's too late. What did that mean? Too late for what? This is not the right place. The place for what? For sex? The only other place was the house, and that was where Heather and the others ...

Cassie blinked and drew in a sharp breath. "Ned, I have the strangest sense that something just happened." She turned her eyes towards him. "Did you sense anything while we had sex? Anything odd? Like some strange passing thought?"

Ned rubbed his neck. "I was kinda distracted at the time, babe."

"I know, but please, it's important. Was there anything at all, anything that seemed out of place?"

"Yer not gonna like it."

"Just tell me, Ned, please."

"Look, it was jus' fer a moment, see? Not like I wanna go do it, jus'--"

"Ned, tell me already!"

"I kinda thought about bein' at the house. I mean, with you, 'natch, but also I kinda, sorta, mebbe thought about Heather, too."

Cassie gasped.

"I swear, babe, yer the only girl fer me! I'd never--"

Cassie leapt off the bed and gathered her clothes. "Ned, get dressed! We have to get over to the house and see if Heather and the others are okay!"

Ned stared in confusion for a few seconds before finally prompting himself into action. "Damn, now yer gettin' precogs, too?" he asked as he scrambled off the bed.

"It's not that, it's ... oh, I can't explain it, Ned, please, let's hurry and get over there!"

Ned blew out his lips. Understanding girls was hard enough. Understanding a girl with extra-sensory powers was even harder.

Heather was as helpless as the others. She quivered and squirmed as her pleasure rose in concert with her sex-mates. Her moans joined those of the other Harbingers now united in the sexual chain that they had created at her bidding.

No one could stop. No one could think of anything else except consummating the act. Had anyone else entered the house, the Harbingers would have remained oblivious, their minds drowning in wet lust. Heather had pushed them into a state of total abandon without knowing why, and then she herself fell to it.

Diane's tongue flicked and teased Heather's clit in perfect rhythm. Her lips drew to Heather's folds, a small intake of breath coaxed the swollen, slick knob of aroused flesh inside. Heather's pants became gasps, her feet rising from the floor as her thighs tensed with her excruciating rise of tiny steps.

Moans deepened, and whimpers became more shrill and urgent. Melinda spread her legs until her thigh muscles stretched. Perspiration glistened on Jason's body, his cock aching from both effort and need. Diane let her hips drop further, her pussy so wet, hot, and unsatisfied. Melinda tipped her head back to breathe, overwhelmed by the thick aroma of Diane's still needy cunt.

Through their haze of desire and want came another presence.

Diane sensed it first, shimmering at the edge of her perception. Her whole body tingled, thin tendrils of sensation that radiated first from her pussy, then from her nipples, leaving behind skin flushed with heat as if caressed by a warm, moist breath.

Diane trembled as the sensations spread, trailing hot erotic delight over her lust-ravaged body. A muffled, shrill cry burst from between her legs as Melinda felt it as well. Jason gasped as if out of breath as the sensations threatened to overwhelm his saturated senses. Heather's fingers curled into the sofa cushion as her body dipped into a pool of raw, liquid emotion.

It came over Heather like a tidal wave rolling toward a dam. The dam would not hold. This barrier would finally fall. She had no idea what it meant. A barrier to what? Against what?

I can't.

But she had done what she claimed she couldn't do, just not to enough of them. She needed the others. It had to be this way, or else they would all fail.

Not Cassie ... not to ... not ... Richie ... can't ... he ...

For a brief, illuminating moment, she understood in perfect, shining clarity. She saw why she was doing this, and what it was for. She was horrified that they had not done it sooner. How had they come this far without it, and how much grief could they have avoided if they had it sooner?

The dam burst, and with it went her epiphany.

Every muscle tensed as hot cum spurted over Diane's face and splashed over the insides of her thighs. Her nipples throbbed in concert with her pussy and radiated over the rest of her body until she was consumed in total sexual ecstasy.

A single wave of orgasmic delight passed over all of them at once, as if their individual sensations and emotions were passed up and down the chain. Their pleasure ran and melted together into a single shared climax, euphoria permeating their minds like a thick mist.

Jason collapsed atop Melinda, his cock still throbbing inside Melinda's spasming cunt. His muscles clenched as if still fucking her, and her pussy squeezed and milked his cock. Diane fell forward into Heather, Melinda still clinging to her and drawing out the last of her climax. Heather became limp, her head lolling to one side.

The shared sensation faded. Their emotions withdrew from one another, followed by their bodies. Jason's cock was still stiff as it popped with a wet sound from Melinda's pussy. Melinda's hands fell from Diane's thighs. Diane groaned and staggered to the side, falling to a half-seated position on the floor.

No one spoke for another minute, the only sounds the soft pants and gentle groans from post-coital bliss.

Heather breathed out in a slow sigh and leaned forward. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her temples. "I had it," she said in a low voice. "I had it, dammit."

Melinda sat up, and her pussy gave a few last dull throbs. "Had ... uhhn ... h-had what?"

"What just happened?" Diane asked in a shaking voice.

Melinda pulled her legs under her and moaned at yet more lingering pleasure in her sex. "You mean besides boinking our brains out?"

"No, something else ... it was like ... I-I can't explain it."

"I felt something, too," Jason said, his voice still strained and breathy. He tried to stand, but fell into a position similar to Diane when his legs felt too weak to hold him. "But I don't know what it was, either."

"It was weird, whatever it was," Melinda said. "That was already so intense! I don't think I ever--"

"I had it!" Heather cried. Her eyes popped open, and her hands fell from her temples and curled into fists. She beat them once against the cushion. "Shit! I figured it out! I had it figured out!"

"Had what figured out?" Melinda demanded.

"Why I keep doing this! Why I keep making everyone have sex!"

"At least you finally admit it!"

"Melinda, please," Jason said.

"I'm not getting mad at her, okay? I mean, I enjoyed it, even if I had to tongue-boink the assistant bubblehead here. But Heather kept dancing around it and wouldn't--"

"Melinda, shut up," Heather growled. Heather closed her eyes again and continued in a softer voice. "Just be quiet for a minute. I think I got something. I might be remembering it."

The others fell silent. Diane pulled herself up until she was crouching near Heather's legs, looking up at her lover and wishing she could help.

Heather's lips parted. "I see something ... I ... no, wait, it's not ..."

She gasped and opened her eyes.

Reality shifted.

Heather feels as if she has a need to gasp at the oppressive odor of rot and the icy chill. The dark hangs over her like a lead weight held by a single frayed string. Moisture gathers in shallow pockets in mildewed corners, and the stones radiate cold into the musty air. A pall of brackish mist floats through the chamber like oil on water.

She can feel all these things, yet it is unreal. She is here and not here. When she "looks" around, she watches the scene twist and stretch in some surrealist's canvas. She can feel, but she has no body.

Heather gasps, or believes she does, when the footsteps once more fall against the neglected stones.

"I have brought it. I have forced them to relinquish it."

Emerald light washes over the walls of the chamber. The man in the trench-coat passes, facing away. She cannot get the scene to turn so she can see his face. Even the voice is distorted, echoing despite the tight confines of the room. She sees the Book, its cover shining and writhing, as if it were a living eye. His fingers tighten around its edges.

The cold crystallizes in Heather's veins as the howl rises from ahead.

" ... are safe now, they cannot harm you."

Heather is confused. She should be frightened, her heart should be pounding, her breath should be a terrified pant. Yet she senses none of these.

The man stops walking. He is standing closer now than he had before. Darkness swirls around them as if stepping into the center of a tornado. Heather feels as if she is falling into a vast, deep pit as she realizes that the energy swirling around them is the same malevolent miasma of a Dark Aura. It pulses and undulates with power, and twists around them with what Heather senses as anger and desperation both.

Suddenly, the man grunts. His arms jerk. Heather strains to see, to sense something, but the dark pours forth from the pit like a geyser. It gels in the air as if trying to take physical form and cocoons the Book.

A wailing scream rises from the pit. Searing green light explodes from the Book. Its rays trace an outline, a faint pattern in the absolute black. Something stands before the man, beside the pit. Something as dark as an abyss.

Something reaching for the Book.

"Obey your master! I have the link!"

Heather's mind reels. The man's words, even though not directed at her, squeeze around her thoughts like a rubber band.

"OBEY YOUR MASTER! YOU WILL NOT DEFY HE HOLDS YOUR LINK!"

Heather feels a sudden rush, like wind. Everything around her blurs and falls away from her, and then she is falling as well ...

"Oh goodness!" Cassie cried as she burst from the kitchen.

"Heather!" Melinda screamed, dropping to her knees.

Diane tried to say something, but could only make a distressed choking sound, her eyes blurring, her arm draped around her fallen lover's shoulders.

"Please, everyone, give her some room!" Jason shouted. "Look, she's coming out of it!"

Heather blinked and groaned from where she lay on the floor after she had slid from the sofa in a boneless heap, eyes glazed and staring. She winced and rubbed her sore tail bone with her hand.

Melinda let out a ragged sigh. "Don't scare me like that!" she gushed in a quavering voice.

"Careful, you landed kind of hard," Jason said.

"Jeez, what happened?" Ned asked.

"We're not sure," Jason said. "She said she was remembering something, next thing she zoned out and--"

"I saw it again!" Heather cried. She sat up, wincing as she put her weight on her bruised backside. "The chamber! The guy who took the Book! I saw more of it! And ... I-I think I saw the Darkness. It was taking the Book from him. He takes the Book from us, only to have the Darkness take it from him!"

Gina stepped off the bus as swirls of dust played about in the afternoon sun, blown from the empty fields on the west side of the road in the waning Chinook winds. The bus pulled from the curb and released a gust that whipped her hair about her face.

She paused for the wind to abate before brushing strands of hair from her eyes. A short distance down the road, the bus turned at the corner and roared back towards the school, her stop the last on the route.

Gina was disappointed. She had hoped it would stay cold enough keep the snow around, a beautiful white blanket to hide the dead plants and brown grass. She imagined it as a pristine blank canvas, yet whenever she tried to picture something to paint upon it, nothing coherent would come to her. Only bits and pieces would conjure themselves in her mind, and she failed to arrange them even on her own mental slate.

"Hey, Gina! Wake up!"

Gina spun around. "Oh, hi, Stephanie."

Stephanie smirked as she approached, her heels clicking against the asphalt. With her last step, she thrust a leg out straight, stretching the folds of her tight shorts against her thigh. "Boy, you're just in your own little world, huh?"

"Sorry," Gina said, her tone subdued. "I didn't hear you behind me."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I was, like, right there when we got off the bus! Duh!"

Gina looked puzzled. "We? But I didn't see--"

"And can you believe the driver won't even go just one more road over? People still live over there, you know, that's what I keep telling him."

Gina nodded, covering her confusion. She couldn't remember anyone who still lived on Old Fairview Drive.

"Anyway, never mind that. I wanted to ask you a favor." She glanced about and stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Look, you seem like someone who doesn't go running off at the mouth, you know?"

"Huh?"

Stephanie sighed. "Remember yesterday? When you said you knew about Jerry and me fucking? Hello!"

"Oh, yes, that. Um ... did it go okay?"

Stephanie beamed. "More than okay," she said in a husky voice. "Wow, it was good. In fact, that's kinda what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh, you're going to have sex with him again?"

Stephanie smirked. "Nothing gets past you, huh? Yeah, we wanna go at it again. We're gonna try to do it again tonight, but it'll only be a quickie. We want more time to really get into it, you know? But he's gotta help his Dad do inventory at the auto repair place on Linwood tomorrow night, so we hafta do it in the afternoon. We're cutting our last class to make some time."

Gina's eyes widened, but she said nothing. She would not even think of doing something so heinous as cutting class.

"Look, I don't do that sorta thing, not normally. But this ... it's kinda hard to describe. I just hafta do this. It just felt so good that first time that I gotta go do it again. So I want you to get me the notes for that class."

"Oh, but ... but I couldn't ... I mean ..."

Stephanie frowned. "Why the hell not?"

"Well, wouldn't that be like cheating?"

"Oh, don't go goodie-two-shoes on me, okay? Jesus, I'm just asking for the notes, not for you to take a test for me or something. I just need to know what that old bat Mrs. Phelps will be teaching. If she'd stick to the damn textbook, I could just--"

"Mrs. Phelps?"

"Not again," Stephanie muttered. "Yes, I said Mrs. Phelps. Old lady with curly white hair and glasses that make her look like an owl. American History. Ringing any bells?"

Gina had no idea who Stephanie was talking about, but decided to concentrate on Stephanie's immediate concern. "I don't have her for history, I have--"

"You don't?"

"Maybe I can give you my notes anyway?"

Stephanie waved a hand. "Nah, forget it. I'll have to get it from someone else. Well, thanks for nothing."

Stephanie's hips seesawed past Gina, heels clicking. Gina watched as Stephanie reached the intersection and turned down the little dirt road towards Old Fairview. Gina wondered just how Stephanie would manage the soft dirt in those heels when the girl vanished as she passed a large bush. Gina dashed towards the corner expecting to see the girl sprawled in the dirt.

No one was there. She lifted her eyes and flinched. The road was deserted as well.

Gina stared, her mind trying to make sense of two competing realities. The deadlock was broken when she remembered Victor's task to her, to reflect on what she had learned in his office. That was more important.

Heat simmered in her pussy as she ran towards her house.

"It sounds more like he might be giving it to the Darkness rather than having it taken it from him," said Jason as he finished dressing.

"But then who was the dude fightin'?" Ned asked.

Diane finished dressing first, not wishing to appear naked before so many people now that her lust had cooled. "And what about that stuff about obeying your master?"

Melinda gasped, poised to pull her shirt over her head. "Unless he can control the Darkness!"

"Not very well from the way Heather said he was shoutin'," Ned quipped.

Jason finished buttoning his shirt and shook his head. "No, that's not it. No one controls the Darkness."

"How would you know that, Jason?" Cassie asked. "I know you can see patterns in the Auras that tell you if someone is directly enslaved or--"

"Yes, and even the Darkness itself has patterns. Remember, I saw it after Melissa was defeated. I can safely say that no one commands the Darkness."

Heather was the slowest to dress, and several Harbingers were doing their best not to look at her while her breasts were still bare. She lifted her bra to her chest, but paused and lowered it again. "I think Jason is right. It didn't feel like he was talking to the Darkness."

"So who else was there?" Melinda demanded. "And put your damn bra back on already!"

Heather grumbled as she fit the bra to her breasts and fumbled with the clasp in the back. Diane stepped forward and helped her. "Thanks, Diane. There, runt, satisfied? I know how terrible you think my tits are."

"You've already been mega-boinked, so you don't need your boobs flapping in wind anymore," Melinda said. "Anyway, are you sure you didn't see anyone else?"

"Positive."

"And still no idea who the dude is?" Ned asked.

"I still can't see his face." Heather donned her blouse. "But, God, it was almost like I was there. It felt way too real."

"So was that the reason for the super-boink-fest you made us do?" Melinda asked. "So you could see this thing more clearly?"

Heather hesitated, her hands slowing as they buttoned her blouse. Her eyes unfocused and closed for a few seconds. She shook her head. "No, there's got to be some other reason."

Cassie nearly spoke. She was on the verge of understanding something as well, but it eluded her grasp at the last moment, just as it had earlier. Her mind drifted as she tried once more to chase it down.

"Cassie, did you learn anything from Mrs. Radson?" Jason asked.

Cassie blinked. "What? Oh, um, a little bit. First of all, she seemed pretty convinced that the Darkness has nothing to do with what's happening to Heather."

Heather frowned. "I could have told you that. Shit, I wish everyone would stop treating me like I was Melissa's twin sister!" Heather sighed when she saw Cassie cringe. She collapsed onto the sofa. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"It's okay," Cassie said. "Anyway, Jason, she said for you to look at Elizabeth's journal entries for 1960 and 1961. Elizabeth talks a lot about sexual energy there. I think she was implying that there might be something good coming out of what Heather is doing."

"Well, yeah, something good for her," Melinda piped.

"Yeah, like you didn't enjoy having Jason fuck you," Heather said with a smirk.

Melinda stuck her tongue out at Heather and sucked it back in quickly. "Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn't do that, you just love anything that has to do with tongue."

"I'm sure Diane thinks you're pretty good with yours."

"Anyway," Cassie declared, "That's really all I got from Mrs. Radson. I think she was reluctant to say anything directly to me about sex."

"Did you tell her about Ms. Hollis?" Melinda asked.

Cassie looked apologetic. "No, I didn't even think to mention it."

"It's okay, I didn't ask you to," Jason said. "She doesn't need something else to worry about."

"Mebbe we should tell her anyway," Ned said. "Cuz she's got a daughter that has Ms. Hollis. And there's that Victor dude."

"But he's clean, Ned."

"Sez you."

Diane looked up. "You said you didn't see anything on him."

"I didn't," Ned drawled. "Don't mean I gotta trust him."

"What is it, Ned?" Cassie asked.

"I don't like coincidences, babe. If hangin' with ya all taught me anything, it's that things don't happen in this here town without a reason. Him showin' up right about now sticks out like Darth Vader at a clown convention."

"I'll see if I can find out anything further on him," Jason said.

Cassie heard the faint, tired undertone to his voice. She wished someone else could take some of the research burden from him, but he was the only one among them with a reliable internet connection at home. Heather and Melinda had access that was always subject to removal at the whim of their mother; Ned had none; Diane was allowed access only through her parents' PC, which was strictly monitored; Richie's computer was well past its prime.

Cassie herself had no PC. Her parents deemed she didn't need it, since she could call upon a bevy of servants to find whatever information she wished. She suspected the arrangement was designed to force her to become accustomed to ordering servants to perform trivial tasks.

"Yeah, I know, mebbe I'm just paranoid, but this town tends ta do that to ya."

"I think we need to get going," Jason said. "We've already spent too long here. We'll have to talk more on this later."

Cassie felt a twinge of guilt. She did not want to pester Jason with yet another task, but she could not let this one go. "Um, Jason, can I have a moment? I promise, it won't take long."

"Sure, Cassie," Jason said. The others departed save for Ned, who waited in the kitchen.

"This is going to sound really strange, but ... do you know of any teacher named Phelps at Haven High?"

"I don't think so, but the name sounds familiar to me. I might have seen it before when I was looking up some other info in the school records. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, um, I overheard the name in a conversation. Something about her being rather old and maybe not quite liked by some of the students."

"Wait, yes, now I remember that name. It was sometime around 1996. She received some sort of an award for her years of service when she retired."

Cassie's eyes widened. "She's retired?"

"I think so. She'd have to be by now, since she was in her eighties when she got that award."

Cassie managed not to shiver against the chill that passed through her. "Thanks, Jason."

Richie sat and stared at the television set as evening deepened through the living room windows. Images flickered across his eyes and cast a pale glow from a fading, aged screen into the dimness. His arms were folded across his chest, his face set hard as if angered by whatever he was watching.

In reality, he had no idea what he had been watching for the past hour.

His thoughts were nowhere with the television program. His only purpose was to avoid the appearance of doing nothing. At first he thought he might watch the news to see if his phone call had triggered anything, but in truth he really did not want to know.

He still resisted telling Jason about his ability. He could not imagine how it could be useful. He didn't want it to be useful.

He heard his mother descend the stairs. He pretended he had not noticed. He ignored her as she crossed the room, and again when she sat down next to him. The silence became too oppressive after only a few seconds. "Thought you were goin' out," he muttered.

Sandra lay her hand against Richie's thigh. "I am," she said in a soft voice. "But we can have a little fun before I do."

"You don't need to, you're gonna get all the cock you want tonight," Richie snapped, though his voice was low. It's not her, it's the Darkness making her do these things. Don't be mad at her, be mad at it.

Sandra's hand slid towards Richie's crotch. Richie unfolded his arms and batted it away. Sandra paused, then lay her hand on his thigh again. "Your cock is my favorite, Richie," she said in a husky if quavering voice. "So much better than any other man's cock."

Richie swallowed. The words sank into his head. His arms twitched as her hand slid towards his crotch once more, but his hands could only clench and unclench at his sides.

Sandra's fingers probed the hardness growing under the denim. Richie finally lifted one of his hands, but Sandra caught it and held it long enough to pull down his zipper and slip her fingers over the prize.

Richie's hand fell away as Sandra stroked him with her fingertips through the cotton, his erection swift and pulsing with his hammering heart. As Sandra turned herself towards him, her tight jeans clutched at her pussy and trapped her steamy arousal against her tight panties.

"As much as I would love your cock up my twat, Richie, I can't get enough of your cum," she cooed into his ear. Her hand undid his belt and pressed into his erection. "You're so delicious, Richie, I just have to have another taste."

Richie moaned and quivered, closing his eyes and rolling his head away from her. Tendrils of Sandra's Aura twined about his body.

Yes, you like that, don't you, Richie? oozed the thoughts of the Darkness into his head.

Richie tried to shout against it, but he couldn't muster the energy anymore. He let his mother distract him, her tongue flicking at his ear, her fingers slipping under his briefs and curling around his cock. He shuddered at the slow slide of Sandra's fingers down his rigid shaft, his breath rushing out in a tremulous sigh as she fondled his balls.

Getting harder to resist, isn't it? You don't want to resist, Richie, not really. You want it all the time.

Sandra slid to the floor and pulled his jeans down. He tensed his legs, but it offered only a few seconds of delay. A few tugs and his jeans were off. She stared at the pulsing bulge in his crotch and licked her lips as she reached for his briefs.

She wants your cock, Richie. She wants to lick it, suck it, and swallow every drop.

Richie's teeth ground together. YOU want her to do it.

The tendrils of Darkness quivered in mirth.

His briefs slipped off with ease, a twitch of his thighs his token resistance. His cock seemed obscene to him now, pulsing with his own weakness and lack of resolve. But what resolve was there? The Darkness was working through Sandra. He could do little to stop her.

Yes, you keep believing that. You believe that all you want, Richie. We know the truth.

A moan forced itself from Richie's mouth when his cock slipped past willing, skilled lips and tongue. Sandra's breath was heavy and hot, ticking his pubic hairs as her head bobbed.

I don't want this, Richie protested. Not with my mother.

And why not? She is so skilled, so eager to please. She could be your slave, Richie. She could be your slut, an always wet and willing pussy at your command.

Richie's fingers curled into the seat cushion. His legs quivered as they spread further apart. Sandra pulled his whole cock inside, squeezing the back of her mouth around the head and clamping her tongue against the shaft.

Sandra's Aura wrapped around Richie like a cocoon hovering just over his skin. It tried to steal its way into his head, like fog through the gap under the door.

I'd give her to you, Richie. You'd get more than you ever would from the others.

Richie moaned again, more urgent and desperate. His mind drifted towards the other Harbingers and his own wishful thinking.

Oh yes, I know they all met to have sex, didn't they? That must have been fun.

Richie clenched his teeth. His breath came in sharp, staccato bursts around his teeth. Sandra popped his cock from her mouth and slid the flat of her tongue in slow and sensuous strokes down his shaft. She teased the sensitive spot with the tip of her tongue, holding him hard to the knife's edge of orgasm.

The Darkness remained silent, letting Sandra keep him hanging, her fingers teasing his balls from his body to make it harder for him to release. He shook and moaned with a strained and desperate cadence.

Too bad they never invite you, isn't it? Too bad you can never have any of them do this for you.

Thoughts flew through Richie's head, a torrent of erotic fantasies, of him fucking Heather to her cries of pleasure and begging for more, of him reaming her from behind, of him making her suck his cock as if she would starve without it.

The Darkness spun like a tornado around his body, and in his head it hissed like a serpent ready to strike. Now I know where you were this afternoon, you sneaky little bastard.

Richie wanted to scream at his mother to make him cum. His thoughts reeled out of his control. For just a fleeting moment, he returned to the graveside, but his need for sexual release yanked his attention back to the erotic. Caught between raw physical need and his anger, his thoughts became a maelstrom, memories and fantasy blending together into a single torrent of emotion.

You can't even lie very well to me anymore, Richie. Like I would believe you'd be in a cemetery, as afraid of them as you are. You're the one that's being fooled. They pity you, nothing more. It won't help you.

The Darkness closed on him. His whole mental landscape shuddered in a virtual earthquake. It cracked but did not buckle.

"Sh-shit, Mom, finish it a-already!" Richie cried. "Fuck!"

Sandra drew him hard into her mouth. Richie jumped in his seat as he let go, throbbing so hard that he saw stars at the edges of his vision.

Sandra closed her eyes and let a puff of breath out her nose, drawing up the heavy smell of his cum pooling against her tongue. She shuddered as her pussy clenched, then released, throbbing behind her wet panties in reward. She kneaded his cock with her lips and tongue, coaxing a final few drops from his spent cock.

It's too late, Richie, much too late, came the Darkness' mocking though fading voice. Its tendrils unwrapped themselves from his body. You're too far gone for just a good fuck with Heather to help you now. Don't even bother anymore.

Richie panted to catch his breath. His head cleared as the Aura retreated. His mother smiled up at him, swallowed, and licked his flagging cock clean. She caressed the insides of his thighs once as she stood.

"Well, I better get going, Richie. Dinner is in the fridge, it just needs to be heated in the microwave. Don't wait up."

Without further word, Sandra turned away and headed towards the garage.

Richie sat, still as a statue, and stared at the television until he heard the sound of the garage door go up and the car start before he dressed himself.

Richie had to go over it in his head several times before he dared believe it. The Darkness had misread Richie's thoughts, confusing fantasy with reality. It believed he had participated in a sexual tryst with the Harbingers earlier that day.

And that had made the Darkness very angry.

When dinner was over, Gina rose and cleared the table. It was her turn for that chore. She placed in the dishwasher what was safe to do so, and started washing the items in the sink that were not.

Gina sensed that her mother had lingered in the room, and imagined she was still sitting in the chair at the kitchen table.

"Gina, dear, I trust you saw the school counselor today?"

Gina had hoped for a question about school all evening, but not about this. Her mother used to show a keen interest in her schooling, and encouraged her to think on what she had learned beyond what she needed to know to get a good grade. That was before the odd change had come over her. "Um, yes, Mom, I did."

"Did you learn anything from him?"

Gina paused to rinse a pot and place it in the drying rack. "Yes, I learned I need to be more open about my sexuality."

"And was he able to help you with that?"

"He ... got me to masturbate in front of him in his office."

"Oh, very good, Gina," Roberta gushed. "That's wonderful progress."

Gina stopped with a large spoon raised halfway out of the soapy water. The question that formed in her mind came out of nowhere. She was as surprised to hear herself say it as she imagined her mother was hearing it. "Mom, is that right? Was he supposed to do that?"

The soft creak of Roberta's chair as she shifted in her seat was the only sound for a few seconds. "Gina, dear, what did I tell you about trusting the counselor?"

"You said I could ..."

(You can trust me)

" ... c-could trust him ..."

She heard the slide of her mother's chair across the floor. Gina transferred an item to the drain rack, her hand trembling. She didn't understand what was wrong. Everything seemed so clear to her since she met the counselor until she ran into Stephanie again. Then all her doubts came trickling back like leaks in a dam.

"And do you trust him?" Roberta asked.

(Trust me implicitly)

Gina let out a slow sigh. She could hear it again, as if someone stood next to her speaking into her ear.

"Do you trust him, Gina?" her mother asked again, her voice insistent.

Gina panted. An understanding was coming to her. Something was happening to her, or being done to her. "Yes, he told me," Gina said in a husky voice.

"You need to trust him," Roberta said. "As I told you. As I am sure he told you as well."

She no longer heard the voice, as it was her own belief now. Her mother's special place in her mind, deeper than Victor could get on his own so soon, had invited him in.

Gina understood this, if only for a second before it was lost in the flush of pleasure that rolled over her helpless body.

"It was very good that he made you masturbate in front of him," Roberta said. "I'm sure it felt good."

Gina shivered. Her pussy was warm. Of course it felt good. Victor knew what was best for her, just as her mother did.

She reached for one of the last items in the soapy water, her hand steady. Roberta stepped forward and touched her daughter's arm. Gina turned her head.

"Leave the rest, Gina. There's something more important you should be doing. Here, dry your hands and turn around."

Gina took the proffered towel and wiped her hands. She was eager to hear what task her mother would set for her.

"I want to make sure you really understand and took to heart what your counselor taught you today, that you do feel more comfortable expressing yourself sexually."

Gina nodded. Her pussy swam in moist heat. She was eager to please.

Roberta sat down. "Take off your clothes and masturbate, Gina."

Gina did not hesitate in the first part of the task. She was eager to slip out of her now uncomfortable clothes. Her nipples were tingly and hard, and it felt good to get them out of the confines of her bra. The slide of her jeans down the smooth skin of her legs was a tiny thrill, and she loved the feel of her wet panties peeling from her folds.

Yet after she slid her feet apart, her hand hesitated just above her glistening delta.

"Go ahead, Gina," Roberta said.

Is this right?

The question had popped into her head, little more than a casual thought. She could disregard it, as it made little sense. Her mother said it was right. Victor said it was right. She trusted them.

"Trust feels good, Gina."

Her feet slid further apart, her thighs quivering. Her fingers slid into liquid heat. Her eyes closed as pleasure exploded inside her. She slid to the floor as her knees buckled, her fingers squishing as they rubbed her swollen clit. Her rear touched the floor as she came, and she cried out her intense pleasure and stroked herself harder for more.

A small smile had tugged at Roberta's lips. "This is good for you, Gina, I hope you understand that."

"Uhhn ... yes ... yes, I understand ..." Gina moaned.

"Offer to do this for Victor when you see him tomorrow. Show him that you've learned and taken his words to heart."

"Yes ... y-yes ... ohhh!" Gina tossed her head back and spread her legs further as she came a second time. She gasped for breath as her hips jerked with her orgasm.

"All right, Gina, that's enough."

Gina continued at first as if she had not heard. Finally, she cast two half-lidded, languid eyes at her mother, and her fingers slowed.

Roberta stood and helped her daughter to her feet. Gina looked at her mother with anticipation, eager for another task. "Very good, Gina. You may go back to your room if you wish. Think about what I said, and think about what Victor wants from you before you go on to bed."

"Yes, Mom, of course," Gina said, her pussy all warm and wet again. She parted from her mother and headed to her room. As soon as she arrived, she lay on the bed, spread her legs, and sank her fingers once more into her slit.

Gina wanted to be her mother's good girl, and it felt good to trust others. She wanted Victor to teach her more. She didn't have to understand it. She only needed to do what was expected of her. That was what was important.

And yet, even as she sank into a haze of sexual bliss, a faint cry rose from deep inside her mind, like a prisoner from a deep, forgotten dungeon.

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