Richie had never thought that some of the best sex he would have after Linda Davis would be with Melinda. Melinda's cunt was tight, more so than any girl he had had so far. To him, it was little wonder why Jason had stuck with her when her whining would have driven off Richie a long time ago.

Richie would have cum had it not been for the link. He had strained near the edge for the past minute, his body shaking with the need for release. His breathing was ragged as if he had just run up the side of a steep mountain. He was sure his balls would explode if he didn't get to cum soon.

He tried to make sense of what he saw over the link. He did not receive as clear a picture as many of his fellow Harbingers. Every now and then something came into sharper focus, but he had little control over it. He wondered if one of the other Harbingers was causing it; perhaps Melinda was relaying something to him, as he soon figured out what the Principal was making Heather do.

The erotic thoughts that accompanied this knowledge he could blame on no one but himself.

C'mon, asshole, this is the Darkness shit. You can't get off on that.

Richie slowed his thrusts and reached his hand between Melinda's legs. His fingers found her clit and whipped up and down its swollen length. Melinda gasped and let out a loud whimper. She panted hard into her pillow, her body trembling. One hand clenched into a fist as her pussy strained and refused to release.

Richie projected his desire into her again. He reinforced what he had planted earlier. She would crave his cock from behind. She would get horny when she thought about sex with Richie.

Richie let out a breath he did not realize he was holding. Temptations ran rampant through his head, each one taunting and daring him. Why stop there? She was vulnerable now. He could program anything into her head he wanted. Not just for himself. He could give Jason a nice surprise, like the ability to make her cum with a single word, or make her shut up when she gets whiny.

Richie shook his head and frowned. He wasn't sure why he was thinking about this now.

Jason had not realized how sexy Cassie was until he was compelled into having sex with her. Like her, he hadn't counted the time they were controlled by Melissa. He couldn't even remember exactly what they had done.

"Compelled" was the wrong word, he realized. He had not been forced into anything. His own lust had pushed him forward. He could have resisted the urge. He told himself he couldn't refuse for Heather's sake, but he had to be honest with himself. Even if it had not been for Heather, he would have wanted to do this anyway.

His thoughts fell into disarray as he inched towards an excruciating peak. Cassie held her hips to his thrusts, grunting in near mindless sexual abandon. She was on the edge of orgasm as well, her will disintegrating before her need. Her mind was open to him. Some of it had to be by her own choice. Her will was the strongest of the Harbingers, and Jason had danced around it as much as possible when his mind had invaded hers at the start of coitus.

Jason fought to hold back his baser desires. He loved having sex with both Melinda and Heather, but he wanted Cassie as well. Perhaps he had always wanted her on some level. They were alike in so many ways.

Jason realized he was still in Cassie's head. He didn't want Cassie as a girlfriend. He just wanted her to be willing, to be aroused when he wanted her, to crave his cock inside her ...

Cassie squirmed and mashed her mound against his body. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer until she was panting hard in his ear.

"Oh God, Jason," Cassie breathed. "This is so nice ... just leave it in me like that ..."

Jason swallowed hard. Did he just do that, or did he just happen to be thinking about it as she did? Cassie's new powers were so strong that this could be happening in reverse, that Cassie's thoughts were affecting his own. Or was he simply trying to avoid the guilt?

Cassie ground her hips against him, rubbing her clit hard and whimpering with intense need.

Ned was quite pleased with himself.

He was sure this was what he had wanted all along. He had never stopped thinking about it just because he had been yanked from Nyssa's control. The desire never really went away. He went out of his way to avoid doing it to Cassie (or even desiring it), but the urge had never left him.

Diane humped when he wanted her to hump. She impaled herself on his cock when he wanted her to do so, gyrating her hips and moaning at the press of his hard shaft against her swollen clit. She turned around and used her mouth for awhile when he willed it. Her oral skills were lacking, but she was eager. He could teach her given time.

Now he had her humping him facing away, so he would watch her tight ass rise and fall, the cheeks rippling with each slap of her body against his. Heh, for someone that's supposed to be a lesbian, her pussy really knows how to work a cock, he thought.

He slipped into her head again, and now Diane was fondling her own breasts, rubbing her nipples and moaning as the pleasure spread over her body like a wave of heat.

Ned was cognizant of the reality. Victor was behind this; Cassie would be upset with him; Heather would go ballistic; Jason would be disappointed. None of it made any difference. All of them will have Diane as their slave.

Ned grabbed Diane's hips and yanked her down with each thrust into her helpless pussy. Both of them were nearing the edge, the last ones to do so. Once they reached their peak, so would the others. Everyone was hanging on them.

Ned pondered prolonging it in the hope that holding out longer against final release might create more energy for Heather. At the same time, his cock strained, and sweet orgasmic relief appeared a far more attractive choice. Diane whimpered, her pussy straining and waiting for Ned. His emotions surged out of the back of his mind and over the link, like the sea retreating from the shore in the prelude to the tsunami.

This is gonna be one hell of a ride, Ned thought as he urged Diane onward to take him to the finish line.

Terri frowned as she stepped back into the classroom, staring for a few seconds before slamming the door behind her. Laura turned her head and offered Terri a tiny, humorless smile. "Please don't break the windows in the doors, they're expensive to replace."

Terri folded her arms. Laura leaned back against the desk, naked from the waist down. Her legs were spread to accommodate a kneeling Heather between them. Heather's head bobbed as her tongue delved into Laura's pussy with faint wet sounds.

"So good of you to call me back right away," said Terri in an icy voice as she stepped towards them. "It was only when I saw that Penny's car was gone that I knew you were done with her."

"I was otherwise engaged."

"Well, I can take over now that I'm back."

Laura's smile became tight. "I'd prefer you wait your turn," she said in a husky voice. She lay her hand behind Heather's head. "I want to enjoy our little harem girl for awhile."

"I don't mean that. Your control is so crude, Laura. Back off and let me get her to where she was before."

Laura let out a tiny sigh. "Only if you are sure your control won't slip again. Heather is really into it now, and I so want to cum by her wonderfully skilled tongue."

Terri was about to deliver a sharp retort when she felt Laura retreat from Heather's mind. Terri's lips curled into a small smirk as her power manifested in Heather's psyche once more.

The pressure Laura felt from Terri's presence inside Heather was rather different from what she was used to. She saw how it could be used with more finesse. If it were anyone other than Terri wielding the power, Laura would have considered learning the secret for herself. With Terri, it would come with too much baggage attached.

Heather shuddered and issued a heavy sigh into Laura's mound. When she followed it with a deep breath, she was overwhelmed by the musk of Laura's arousal. She drew in another one, trembling as Laura's pussy became her world.

"That's my good little pussy-eater," Terri said with a sly smile. "That's what harem slaves do best."

Laura's breath came as soft pants, her fingers combing Heather's hair. Heather's tongue strokes became more smooth, more insistent, more eager. Heather drew herself further forward and planted her lips against Laura's folds. She swirled her tongue about Laura's clit as she closed her mouth. Her cheeks dimpled, and her lips sucked Laura's womanhood inside.

"Mmm ... yes ..." Laura moaned. "Oh, much better."

"You see?" Terri said with a smug grin. "When she believes she's a slave, it's so much easier than when you just tell her she's one. There's a difference."

"Mmm ... there's something to be said for my methods as well."

"Yes, I can see you're keeping her very horny."

Laura looked up. "Actually, I'm not. She seems to be doing that quite well on her own."

Heather heard Terri reenter the room. She did not consciously pick up on the conversation that followed, but soon it no longer mattered to her. The costume was no longer such any more, her hips squirming as it seemed to melt into her pussy, sealing it in steamy sexual heat.

The smell of Laura's pussy made her drunk with desire, and she craved obedience as water or food. Her thoughts of the girl who's mother just made a deal with the devil for her "freedom" faded once more into the black depths of her subconscious. The harem girl had such a simple purpose in life. Teachers and mothers mattered not to a proper slave. All that mattered was pleasure and obedience.

Her arousal suddenly surged. She reveled in the assumed reward for her acceptance of her role. She wore no "costume," only her sexy harem veils that sparked pleasure just from the soft touch against her skin. Pleasure rose unbidden, but not from her pussy. It was diffuse, but growing, like a thickening fog.

She felt a hand against the back of her head. Her face was pushed into the musky wet flesh, forcing her to tilt her head back to breathe. Her nose sat in the small tuft of pubic hair above Laura's delta, filling her nostrils with her Mistress' beautiful aroma.

The harem girl faltered. Her knees had slid apart once more, her pussy so swollen and needful. The pleasure swirled around her mind along with other emotions and thoughts. She tried to push the others back and keep just the pleasure. Harem girls had no need for such distractions.

Her Mistress called to her. She thrust her tongue deeper into Laura's tightening tunnel. Laura's hand pressed harder, and the harem girl's face was mashed to Laura's sex, tongue and lips working Laura's clit with a savage abandon.

There was a loud, long moan above her. Her Mistress was cumming, her pussy shoved into the harem girl's face once more, bidding her to keep licking, licking, licking ...

The back of the harem girl's mind exploded as her pussy gushed into the confines of the costume.

The throbbing was so intense that she could not vocalize it. It had reverberated from her head first down through the rest of her body. Her orgasm had not been hers; her body had simply echoed the power that had crashed into her mind.

The harem girl persona withdrew but did not retreat. It had gained a small but tenacious foothold in Heather's mind, a piece of Terri's reality that could not be expunged. What had been her reality was now a reality she longed to seek.

When her orgasm finally abated, her eyes opened wide, and she stared at Laura and then Terri. Before she could act on her freedom, a Dark haze chilled her mind. She fought against it to rise to her feet, faltered, and fell back, shivering hard. The fog swallowed her, and she remained kneeling, panting, and wet.

Yet she remained cognizant of who she was and what was happening to her. Laura wanted to claim a puppet, and the Harbingers would not let her. A small, if Pyrrhic, victory.

Melinda collapsed onto the bed. Richie sprawled out in a chair, panting and covered in a thin sheen of perspiration. "Oh man ..." he murmured.

"That's the third time you've said that," Melinda said without moving or opening her eyes. "Say something else."

"Oh fuck ..."

"Yeah, so much better, thanks."

Richie smirked. "Shit, you're a whiner even after being fucked."

Melinda lifted her head. "I'm trying to reach Heather. It was like I was in her head for a minute and then got shoved out again."

"Yeah, I felt it, too."

Melinda turned over and gasped. Her hips jerked as her pussy throbbed in a weak, abortive climax. She drew her knees to her chest until it passed. "God, it's like my pussy still wants to keep cumming!"

Richie flicked his hand towards his crotch, where his cock only now flagged. "I've never kept it up that long after doin' it."

"That supposed to impress me?"

"It will when we get to fuck again."

Melinda narrowed her eyes at Richie, but her intended defiance failed with her last fading throbs. Even in the midst of post-coital ache, her pussy tingled at the idea of letting him fuck her again. Richie had planted the desire so deep into her mind that she could not make herself believe she had not wanted it all along.

Melinda frowned and looked away. "I can't tell if we did any good. Something's still got her."

"It's Principal Bendon," said Richie as he stood up.

"Oh fuck, not her! Like we don't have enough trouble as it is."

"We're holdin' her back."

"How do you know?"

"Cuz me and Ned are in there. We're the muscle of this group."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "It doesn't work that way."

Richie shrugged. "I just know we're doin' something."

Melinda gave him a frustrated look, though there was a hint of gratitude in her eyes as well. She wrinkled her nose and made a gagging noise. "Ugh. I can almost taste that stupid Principal's muff on my lips but I can't freaking do anything in Heather's head. It's like I'm all receive and no send."

Richie snickered.

"What the hell do you find so funny?"

"Didn't know you could lick pussy by remote."

"Oh, you're impossible, you know that?" Melinda piped. She cleared her throat and rose from the bed before she would be forced to abandon her properly righteous anger long enough to grin at the joke herself. "Look, maybe we should go get Jason and Cassie. They've got to be finished by now."

"So you're in such a hurry to leave me?" Richie said, giving her a look of mock-hurt.

Melinda marched up to him, though when she spoke again, her voice was more contrite than her face would suggest. "Look, you want me to say it was a great fuck? Okay, yeah it was a great fuck. Sorry I acted snotty towards you all that time."

Richie shrugged. "Forget it. The part about being snotty, that is, not about the great fuck."

Melinda smirked. "How can I? You'll probably never let me forget."

"Shit, yeah. I'll remind you every day if I hafta."

Melinda had no ready comeback. She already knew she would need no reminders from him.

Jason and Cassie lay side by side on the bed, the only sound their waning soft pants. Neither had said a word since their shared orgasm nearly made Cassie scream. She was still sorting her feelings from Heather's. In the midst of her climax, she had slipped back into Heather's head. Now she had to disentangle herself once more.

"Are you all right?" Jason finally said.

Cassie did not respond for a few seconds. "I think so," she said, though with little conviction.

"We did something. We pushed Ms. Hollis almost all the way out. I can still see a little tendril of her. But Ms. Bendon--"

Cassie moaned and covered her eyes. "I know."

"What's wrong?"

"I can't get my mind completely separated from Heather. I-I can feel as if some of the Darkness is in my head as well."

Jason's eyes darted over Cassie's body. "You don't have an Aura."

"I don't think it's really inside me, just the part of me that's still in Heather's head." She gave Jason a somber look. "You probably don't understand anything I just said."

Jason sat up, crossing his legs under him. "I don't understand it like you do, but I get what you mean."

"I'm just worried what will happen if we try to boost this power and I push things with Gina too far. I might never get back out."

Jason ran a hand through his hair, his eyes darting away. "Um, boost? What do you mean?"

"You want to use that spell. I know you do, Jason, please don't deny it." Cassie sighed. "More than maybe you realized came across to me during sex."

"I don't want to use it."

"I know. But you will, because Ned will convince you."

"Cassie, I won't do it just because he wants me to--"

Cassie sat up and regretted it when her pussy throbbed again, making her post-orgasmic ache more pronounced. She drew her legs together to quell it, as well as her own budding desire for Jason's future sexual attentions. "Jason, something happened with Ned and Diane."

"What? Are they okay? I didn't feel anything."

"You were focused on Heather. So was I, but my senses are such that I feel something from everyone. I think whatever Victor had done to Diane affected him."

Jason remained silent.

"We needed a slave for the spell, so now we have one," Cassie said in a hollow voice. "Honestly, I don't know whether to scream or cry right now."

"I don't think it was Ned's fault."

Cassie remained silent. She knew Ned too well to give any credence to Jason's statement. She loved him, but he was prone to act on impulse. He could have taken some power from the link to resist. Cassie had reached out to him, but she had been rebuffed. She did not blame him, for she did not think he was conscious of her presence. He may have interpreted it as his own conscience and simply ignored it.

"I'll talk to him," Jason said.

Cassie shook her head. "You know it won't work. You said yourself that it's viral. He's going to convince all of us to go along with it."

"But we know about it now, maybe we can stop it."

Cassie folded her legs under her when her pussy had finally subsided. "I don't know if we should try."

"We can't let Victor's power affect our whole group. Maybe you could reach him in his dreams like you did with--"

"I understand Ned's thinking now," Cassie said, her eyes downcast. "He wanted to use Victor's own power against him. I felt something very strong from him when I was trying to help him resist. It was something about a 'wrong battle.'"

Jason considered. "Fighting the wrong battle, you mean?"

Cassie raised her head. "Yes, that was it."

Jason nodded. "I understand his motive now as well."

"And there's something else, something Stephanie told me. She said ... she said the veil was weak."

"The what?"

"The veil, the thing that I think is supposed to separate this world and the supernatural. It's supposed to get weak this time of year, right?"

"Well, that's what some beliefs hold, yes."

"Stephanie wants us to take advantage of it. She wants us to draw power from it. We can't do that unless ..." She trailed off, paused, and wiped one of her eyes. "Jason, it's not so much a fear of the supernatural, or even Victor that bothers me. It's what we'll do to poor Diane, and whether we'll ever be able to stop doing it. What if we don't want to give up Diane as a slave? Goodness, Jason, I already feel like I shouldn't be questioning it so much just from touching him over the link. Please, tell me how do we get ourselves to stop?"

To that, Jason had no answer.

Ned lay on the bed for a long time, staring up at the ceiling as he waited for some of the post-coital ache in his cock to fade. He was slow to lose his erection; a good minute or two passed before it started to drop. Even now it still looked plump, like it did occasionally upon waking when his dreams towards morning tended towards the erotic. He smiled as he gazed down at it.

"Did I please you, Master?"

Ned smiled and turned on his side. He looked past the edge of the bed, where Diane knelt on the floor. Her knees were spread, exposing her pussy for him, her hands on her thighs as she waited for his attentions again.

"Oh yeah," Ned said. "Shame on Heather fer keepin' ya ta herself all this time."

Diane smiled. "I'm still her slave, Master."

Ned picked himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His gaze roamed over Diane's slim body. "Yeah, I know. An' the rest of 'em, too."

Diane's voice quavered. "Yes, all the Harbingers."

"Are ya okay?"

"Yes, Master, of course. It's just ..."

"Jus' what?"

"Some of them won't want to take me as a slave. Melinda didn't when I offered myself to her the other day."

Ned smirked and pushed himself off the bed. He snapped his fingers, and she bolted to her feet. "I think I can do a little per-suasion on them. I mean, c'mon, this jus' makes sense, doesn't it?"

Diane smiled and nodded. "Of course it does. I've always wanted to be a slave."

"An' ya got yer wish. Oh, but ya gotta keep it hush-hush with yer parental units."

"Yes, of course, I know." She paused. "My mother doesn't even know I was Heather's slave, just that we're lovers."

"Cool. Let's keep it that way. This is jus' a little secret of the Harbingers."

"Yes, Master."

"An' that means tellin' no one outside of our group. No one at all. Ya got that?"

Diane shivered at the force of Ned's voice, her own turning husky as her body was awash in the gentle pleasure of obedience. "Yes, Master. No one at all."

"That means Victor, too."

Diane opened her mouth, but no sound emerged, as if the words had become stuck in her head.

"Ya don't tell him nuthin'. No matter how he asks or what he does ta ya."

Diane's lower lip trembled. Her eyes glistened.

Ned stepped closer. Her breath passed her lips as a trembling sigh, her pussy tingling anew. "No matter what. Ya hear me? Even if he tries whatever little hypno-thingie he's got in yer head. No matter how useful he wants ya to be."

Diane shuddered and whimpered.

Ned paused and raised an eyebrow. "Useful."

Diane bit her lip, eyes glistening and pleading.

In Ned's head, two and two had come together and made a lot more than merely four. "Yeah. Yeah, that's it. That's gotta be it."

"M-Master?"

That fucking sneaky mind-raping bastard, Ned thought. Well, I can be just as much of a sneaky bastard as you, sucker.

Diane squirmed. "Master, did I do something wrong?"

"Yer a slave now, right?"

Diane nodded, wide-eyed.

"Ta all of us. Yer useful now. Totally and fucktastically useful."

Diane shuddered at each mention of the word.

"If ya wanna be useful ta us, ya gotta be our perfect slave. An' that means ya tell Victor nuthin'. He asks, and ya don't know squat 'bout being our slave."

Diane wrung her hands, her lower lip trembling.

"Keep the secret, slave. Do as yer told. Be useful."

Her breath came out in a rush, pleasure flooding her body at the prospect of such wonderful, total submission. She could have a complete sense of purpose. She could finally be useful to the other Harbingers. "Yes, Master. Yes, I'll keep the secret. I won't tell him anything. I'll be a good slave. I'll be useful."

Ned gave her a sly smile and fondled one of her breasts, listening to her tiny moans of pleasure, though he could barely hear them over the triumphant mental chords in his head.

Terri stepped back and frowned at Laura. "What the hell did you just do?"

Laura collected her panties and slacks. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Something pushed back at me, and when I tried to fight back, suddenly you were there instead."

"Someone had to keep control over her. Obviously you can't."

"I said I was pushed back!"

"Heather, stand up and remove the costume," Laura said. She raised her eyes to Terri. "No need to shout."

Terri watched as Heather rose to her feet on shaky legs and slipped off the costume with slow, methodical movements. "She has someone in her head helping her."

Laura gave Terri a tight smile. "So good of you to finally notice."

"I already knew. I had sensed it in the classroom."

"And you saw fit not to tell me?"

"But you just implied you already knew!"

"Yes, but you had no idea I knew, and you kept that information from me." Laura turned away from Terri and clicked her tongue at Heather. "Such a naughty girl, squirting into your nice costume like that. Put it on the desk and I'll get it cleaned for you by Halloween night."

Heather nodded, her eyes downcast.

Laura turned back to Terri. "I won't abide by a partnership where you choose to keep me in the dark about selected facts. You would have me think you are trying to cover up incompetence on your part." She raised a hand when Terri was about to retort. "Which is not the case here, I am sure."

Terri was not mollified. She looked at Heather again. Heather stared at the last of her veils. She rubbed it between her fingers and moaned when her pussy warmed in soft pleasure once more. "It hasn't been wholly useless," Terri muttered. "I made some inroad into her."

"Yes, we were successful at breaking her down some." She lay her hand on Heather's and urged her to put the costume down. "But I don't believe we will get anything more useful from her today."

"So we just let her go now?"

"Of course. Did you seriously expect either of us would keep her the weekend?"

Terri shook her head, unwilling to admit her ambitious expectations.

"In that case, you may leave if you wish. I will get her cleaned up and ready to head home."

"And why not the both of us?"

"Because this is a one-person job and I wish to take a few measurements for adjusting the costume. It did not fit quite well enough to suit me."

Heather looked up at Laura. She had thought the fit to be perfect. She wanted to try it on again, just to prove it and enjoy how warm and sexy it felt to ...

She shook her head, her hair flying. She was not a harem girl, only a teenager with a harem costume.

Terri frowned. "All right. But first tell me what you and Penny talked about."

"Nothing that would concern you, really."

"Try me."

"I simply convinced her that it would be in her best interest to step aside."

Terri raised an eyebrow. "And she agreed? Just like that?"

"I can be very persuasive when I want to be. The point is, she will no longer interfere."

"I suppose there's no chance that over the weekend--"

"Not a chance. I can push my influence only so far at this school."

Terri sighed. "Very well. I suppose I will see you Monday, then." She turned and marched out of the room.

"Idiot," Laura muttered after Terri was gone. She turned back to Heather. Heather's gaze rose to Laura's, shimmering and glazed. She wrapped her arms around herself until the Dark pall in her mind forced her to lower them.

"No, let me keep looking at your naked body," said Laura. She leaned against the desk and offered a sly smile. "So how are the Harbingers these days, hmm?"

Heather opened her mouth as if to obey the command to speak, then clamped it shut again, almost as much to her own surprise as Laura's curiosity.

"Seems like your little group has learned a few new tricks. Oh, I can feel something in your head, Heather, something that resisted Terri. I can feel it resisting me. But not completely, hmm? Otherwise you'd be kicking me out as well."

Heather's lips parted, her eyes widening. She swallowed hard as her gaze flicked to the costume again. Other outfits paraded before her mind's eye. Skimpy outfits of frilly lace, black nylon and fishnet, tight leather and spandex. She pictured herself putting them on, each piece sliding over her skin in a slow, sensual ritual, as if playing to an audience. She shivered with renewed lust at the imagined touch of smooth silk and soft lace, of slick leather and sheer nylon.

"I love nubile young things in tight, sexy outfits," Laura cooed. "And you're going to love wearing them."

Heather moaned and staggered. Her hands clenched into fists. The link still burned bright like a torch in the mist in the back of her mind, but its energy would hold up only so much against the pressure.

And then, like a spigot shut off, the pressure was gone. Heather let out a single shuddering sigh.

"You're right, I can't maintain it constantly in your head," said Laura. "Though enough to plant the seed. You know what I like now, and it will make you hot and horny when you think about it."

Heather shot Laura a venomous look of defiance.

Laura smiled. "And the reason it will work despite your little friends in your head is that you're going to help me. Unless you want me to tell others how the Harbingers can assist you remotely. I can think of at least one that would be pleased to receive such important information."

Heather stared. "You ... y-you can't ... I mean ..."

Laura raised an eyebrow in amusement.

Thoughts rushed through Heather's head. Not all of them were her own or Laura's. "Maybe the Darkness knows about it already," she blurted. "Maybe it doesn't matter what you tell it."

"Do you really want to take that chance?"

Heather swallowed. She didn't know how to answer. The others were speaking through her.

Laura turned away. "Get dressed, Heather, and go home. I'm finished with you for today."

A diminutive man with a balding pate slammed the trunk of his SUV closed with a sigh. He heard a noise off to his right, and turned his gaze down the aspen-lined street, towards the hills that rose above the western edge of town.

Some teens hung out just around the curve of the street. One of them was showing off his costume for the Haven High Halloween party, and his peers both admired and teased him.

The man's eyes shimmered. He stepped around the back of the car and further up the driveway, until the SUV stood between him and a reminder he didn't need. He looked at his watch and let out another sigh. "Patty, what's taking you so damn long?" he called out.

A gray-haired woman yanked open the front door, her age-spotted face creased into a frown. "Heaven's sake, Walter! I don't move as fast as I used to in my old age!"

"Old nothing, you always dally when we need to be on the road--" He looked at his watch again. "Needed to be on the road a half hour ago!"

"Honestly, I don't understand what gets into you this time of year."

"Nothing!" Walter shouted. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye. A car was crawling up the street and past the house from the east. "I just want to head over the mountains before the weather turns nasty. You know you can never predict the weather in the Rockies this time of year."

"I'm almost ready, I just have a few more items to pack."

"Please hurry, I want to get out of this town for a bit. I mean, I just want a change of scenery, is that so hard to understand?"

The car pulled up to the curb just past the end of the driveway. "I really don't know what you're all about sometimes, even after all these years."

"We can debate that in the car. Now, please--"

"I will be ready when I'm ready, and not a moment sooner," Patty said. She spun around and retreated into the house, slamming the door behind her, which masked the sound of a car door closing.

Walter clenched his fists. "Dammit, woman, I want to get out of here."

"Why so quick to leave such a nice, sleepy little town as this, Walter?"

Walter's blood ran as cold as the breeze that blew down the hillsides and whistled through the aspens. He swallowed hard and nearly choked as his throat seemed to close up. He didn't turn around, as if hoping it would go away if he didn't look at it.

Footsteps echoed and grew closer. "I asked you a question, Walter."

Walter forced himself to turn around and managed not to cringe. "What are you doing here, Victor?" he breathed.

Victor smiled. "Why, just visiting an old friend."

"You have no old friends, only old associates and lackeys."

"And which are you?"

Walter's jaw tightened. "Neither."

"Nonsense."

Walter shouted towards the house, "Patty! We need to leave!"

Victor shook his head. "She won't come. She suddenly discovered that she cannot leave until she straightens up a bit. She'll be at that for a good while."

"G-Get out of her head," Walter sputtered. "Don't touch her. Don't you ever touch her with whatever it is you--"

Victor sighed and stepped forward. "I don't have the patience for this," he said, letting a tiny edge creep into his voice. "Perhaps another year I would, but not this time. Now, I asked you a question that you have yet to answer. Do not make me repeat it."

"Why do I have to answer it at all?" Walter said. "I haven't associated with you for years."

"There are two reasons why someone would be so anxious to leave town. One is a guilty conscience. The other is a bad memory. Which is it?" Victor looked thoughtful. "Or perhaps it is both."

"Can you blame me for not wanting to be around this time of year considering what you made me do?" Walter hissed through clenched teeth.

"I made you do nothing. It was a fair exchange." Victor looked past Walter and grinned. "I am assuming of course, that your wonderful wife never found out about any of your illicit affairs."

Walter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I haven't done that in ten years, Victor."

"You still could, you know."

Walter's eyes snapped open and burned.

"It won't leave you. Have whomever you want. No one will notice. That power never goes away, no matter who -- or how many -- you decide to bed."

"I told you I don't--"

"What was the youngest? Seventeen? No, sixteen. I heard the parents found out and were pretty hard on her. Not you, though. It was as if a phantom had sex with her. You got away clean. I believe they call that statutory rape in this state."

"Stop it!" Walter rasped.

"So I don't think you of all people have the right to order me out of Patty's head when you've been in it for twenty-one years. Nor can you judge me as I sensed you have been doing since I arrived. I made you do nothing. You were the one who chose to exchange your ethics for sex."

"And you don't?!" Walter cried. He no longer worried about being overhead. The street had become deserted since the conversation began, and the few that remained in their driveways or front yards would witness nothing but a friendly conversation between old friends.

"I work to a larger purpose than mere sex, unless you believe I keep all these slaves to myself, or indulge in 'recreation' with them beyond the ceremony."

"I have no idea, and I don't want to know."

"Oh, you know, all right, Walter. You know a great many things, things that need to be kept secret."

Walter's eyes glazed. "Wait ... is ... is that what this is about?"

Victor frowned and tilted his head.

"You think I told someone ... you think I would tell anyone anything about what we did ...!" Walter sputtered.

Victor held up a hand and lapsed into another thoughtful silence.

"Victor, I have no idea how we got this past the coroner. I mean, swapping the bodies, that's like a plot device from a bad movie. No one falls for that. Not even with your power."

"You vastly underestimate it. You always did."

"That's not the point. The point is I still live in fear that we'll be caught, that someone will uncover the truth. You can bury bodies but you can't bury facts."

"Enough."

Walter's mouth snapped shut.

"So you indeed did not tell anyone."

"You think I could lie to you?"

Victor shook his head. "No, you can't."

Walter's eyes widened. "So you did think that I had said something! But that means ... oh God, no ..."

"Your panic is unwarranted. I have no solid evidence that the secrecy as been broken."

Walter frowned. "Victor, you don't do a damn thing unless there's a reason behind it."

"And I choose to keep my reason to myself." He glanced down the street, where the teens had stood before he had arrived. "So it is memory after all."

"I don't want to stay here during this time of year and know what you're doing, and how we murdered that poor--"

"We murdered no one," Victor said, his eyes blazing. "The overzealous cultist that was responsible was disciplined. Severely. He no longer had a mind to call his own after that day."

"But he responded to your need. You had already told me about your idea to fake Stephanie's death. He was there. He had acted rashly in the past, and you had to call him to task for it. You knew he might go off in a fit of blind loyalty that--"

"And you, who would seek to escape that memory, are so intent on dredging it up?" Victor said, his voice sharp. "Leave it be and go on your little excursion. My apologies for doubting you. Escape the past for a bit. You've earned it. Good day."

Victor turned and headed down the driveway.

"Should I just keep going?" Walter called out after him. "Should I not bother coming back? Is whatever's gone wrong so bad that--"

"Good day, Walter," said Victor, his steps crisp and stiff as he headed back to his car.

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