Victor's car pulled up to the curb one street to the north of Jason's house. The engine idled, and the passenger side door opened. Gina's high heels clicked and scraped against the concrete sidewalk as she climbed out of the car. She held a long coat closed about her body, only her heels and a few inches of fishnet hinting at the sexual display beneath.

Gina glanced back towards Victor for a moment, then closed the door and turned towards Brad's house. Victor waited until she reached the front walk before he drove away.

Each footfall was crisp, her head held high. Her pussy grew hot with each sweep of her legs and swing of her hips. Her nipples tingled as her breasts bounced in their cups. By the time she stood before the front door, her breath was a light pant. She paused to calm herself. She could not rush her presenting to him. She let out her breath in a slow, husky sigh and rang the doorbell.

Brad appeared in seconds. He yanked open the door and grinned, which faded when his eyes skittering over Gina's body.

"Hi, Brad," Gina said in a low, breathy voice. "I hope I'm on time?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure, no problem. Um ... hey, come in!" Brad stepped to one side, stumbling when he caught his heel on the threshold.

Gina walked past him and into a modest living room of deep browns and a dark gray carpet. Her heels clicked on the bare hardwood near the door, drawing Brad's attention to them. He spotted the fishnets, and his eyebrows rose.

Gina turned and found Brad staring at her feet. Her hands twitched, fingers curling around the edges of her coat. She looked first at the open front door and then Brad.

Brad finally lifted his eyes and looked confused until a cold breeze raised goosebumps on his arms. He closed the door and locked it before turning back to Gina. "Wow, you're really here. I mean, you showed up like you said."

"Of course," Gina said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well ... just ... just that girls don't go telling you they'll come over for sex, you know. And really mean it, that is."

"I meant it, Brad," Gina said. "Why wouldn't I?"

Brad thought Gina's voice sounded odd, almost hollow, when she said that phrase again. "I was kinda hoping you'd come over in something a little sexier than that coat, unless you--"

Gina opened her coat, her breath passing her lips as a low, husky sigh. The coat slipped from her shoulders and fell into a heap around the backs of her calves.

Brad's mouth fell open. "Holy shit."

"This is my costume for the party," Gina said.

Brad gaped. "For the party? At school?"

Gina nodded once.

"Holy fuck. Would they even let you in wearing that?"

"Don't you like it?"

Brad's cock was hard, and he tugged at the waist of his jeans to nudge it into a more comfortable position. He smirked. "Let's just say it's doin' things for me right now."

"It is for me, too."

"It is?"

Gina wondered if that was the right thing to say, but her lust was as great as her need to present properly. "Brad, I'm very horny right now. Very wet."

Brad rubbed the back of his neck. His cock was so hard it ached. He was hesitant and was not sure why. Heather was the last girl with whom he had sex in that house, and sometimes she had to be coaxed into it. Even then, until the end, she avoided intercourse. The memory still tugged at his emotions.

Or he simply thought that this was too good to be true.

He could not take his eyes from the costume. He almost didn't want her to take it off. The fishnets, he thought through the lusty haze. I'll have her leave them on. And the shoes. Always wanted to fuck a girl in high heels.

"Man, you look great, really great," Brad murmured.

"Slutty enough?" Gina asked. Her eyes blinked a few times as if surprised to hear herself say it.

"Oh yeah," Brad said, stepping towards her. "Yeah, real slutty, Gina."

His hands touched her waist, and he felt her quiver. She squirmed at the slide of his hands over her hips, her heels scraping the floor as her legs struggled to part.

"Wow, you really are horny," Brad said.

"Slutty," Gina moaned. "Sl ... h-horny ... yes ..."

Brad was astounded. Was she really responding this much to his touch? He drew his hands up her sides and around her breasts. Gina leaned into his touch. His fingers encircled the swells of her bosom through the costume and squeezed, his thumbs finding the raised bumps of her nipples and flicking them.

Gina moaned and pressed herself into his hands. She struggled not to beg him to strip off her clothes. He had to initiate it. She could only present and offer. She moved her feet further apart in silent invitation.

Brad finally slipped a hand between her legs and rubbed her slit through the costume. Gina pumped her hips against his hand as if humping his cock.

"Whoa," Brad murmured.

Gina looked at him with pleading eyes. She had offered. He only had to accept it, so they could have sex, so he could take her for the first ...

Again.

Take her again.

They had done it before. She did not understand why it was so hard to keep that simple fact in her head. It was not the first time the erroneous thought had come into her head that morning.

"All right," Brad said in a strained voice. "But when we do it, keep the shoes and the fishnets. The rest comes off. Then ... hey, what ...?"

Released from the prohibition, Gina reached behind her and unhooked the top. Her breasts spilled from the cups, nipples taut and hard. She dropped it to the side and grasped the bottom piece of her costume. It slid off her hips with a faint wet sound as it released the heat from her pussy, which wafted to Brad's nose from aching and steamy folds. It fell down her legs and pooled about her ankles. She stepped out of them, the shoes remaining on her feet as if glued in place.

"Wow," Brad murmured.

"I'm ready to have sex with you, Brad," Gina said in a sultry voice, her body trembling with still-mounting desire.

Brad nodded, not trusting his voice. He grabbed her hand and raced up the stairs as fast as her high heels would allow.

"A fairy?!" Melinda cried. "That's the only costume that's left that will fit me?"

The thin, balding man behind the counter finished rolling up the measuring tape in his bony, meticulous fingers before peering over his glasses with imperious eyes. "Well ... I do have a chipmunk costume that might fit if I tuck it in a bit."

Off to the side, Cassie covered her eyes with her hand and steeled herself.

"A chipmunk?! What is this, Dork's Warehouse?"

The costumer raised an eyebrow.

Cassie sighed. "Melinda, I did try to get you to pick something ahead of time--"

"What difference does that make?" Melinda piped. "Come on, Cassie, everyone else is getting measured only today."

"Miss Kendall provided me with their rough body shapes and their preference ... young lady," said the thin man. "I reserved several sizes that were close to their approximate measurements."

Melinda turned away, shaking her head. "I don't believe this. I finally get to go to a costume party and I have to go as a stupid fairy. Just kill me now, okay?"

The costumer's lips drew to a thin line. "You will excuse me," he said in a voice heavy with disdain as he turned towards the back, brushing aside the curtain across the doorway.

"Armando, wait!" Cassie called out, rushing to the counter.

He spoke without turning around, his last words muffled when the curtain fell into place behind him. "You may call upon me when the distraught young lady gets her priorities straight."

Melinda clenched her hands into fists and marched towards the counter. Cassie intercepted her. "Melinda, please, calm down."

Melinda let out a sigh, slapping her fists against her thighs. "Shit."

"I'm sorry if the costume won't be to your liking," Cassie said, her voice flat.

"It's not that, okay? I mean, it's not just that, you know what I mean?"

Cassie sighed and nodded.

"And now my mother wants me home fast so she can put me and Heather to work doing a bunch of chores. Why now? Why this weekend? She's going to do something to me, just like she did when you all went to confront Melissa."

Cassie wanted to tell her that she should be glad she missed it, but the truth was that having an extra person might have avoided some of the difficulties they had faced. "Richie said he would try to protect you."

Melinda snorted and rolled her eyes.

Cassie avoided a frown, but some irritation crept into her voice. "Now what?"

"Nothing."

"No, you meant something by that. What is it?"

Melinda gave Cassie a surprised look. "What difference does it make?"

"Because I'm getting tired of people still selling him short."

Melinda stared. "Huh?"

"You heard me, Melinda. Maybe the others have stopped, but you're still doing it."

"But ... Richie just ... he ..." Melinda sputtered. She glanced past Cassie and said in a lower voice. "He made me do it that way with him. And he made me like it!"

"And I did it with Jason."

Melinda clenched her teeth. "Don't remind me."

"I'm sorry if that upset you."

"I'm not mad at you, Cassie," Melinda said. "Look, Heather already told me I complain too much, that I need to grow up. Maybe I don't want to right now. Maybe this stupid costume was a way I could put that off for awhile, you know?"

Cassie did understand, as surprised as she was to hear such insight from Melinda. "Well ..."

"Well what?"

"Ned did suggest something else you could do, to match Jason's theme."

Melinda gave Cassie a funny look.

"Something involving, um, a somewhat scanty costume? And, um, a color, I can't remember which one now."

"Oh, yeah, right. If Jason thinks I'm going to go prancing around as an Orion slave girl, he's insane." At the same time, however, her voice threatened to break up into giggles by the end of her statement. Cassie caught it and started giggling as well. Soon the both of them were laughing.

"So I take it that's a no?" Cassie said, still giggling.

"Even if I had a costume like that, no way I'm spray-painting myself green," Melinda said, which set the two of them off again. Melinda finally sighed. "All right, fine, I'll go as a fairy."

"I really am sorry it's not what you want."

"Forget it. I have to get used to that. I'm not going to get anything I want for a long time."

Cassie just nodded in sympathy as Melinda headed towards the counter.

Like a mother that I don't have to be scared of all the time, Melinda added in her head.

Gina lay on Brad's bed, rapt as she watched Brad between knees that spread to either side in anticipation. Her eyes were fixed and glazed as Brad pulled off his clothing in an increasing frenzy, his hands fumbling as his libido accelerated past his motor skills.

A tiny quiver and a faint chill passed through her when he was down to his briefs, gone before she could examine it. Her eyes widened as Brad grasped the waistband, and time seemed to slow down as he was poised to reveal his cock to her.

Gina trembled as if this were her first time, as if he were here to take her virginity. That had already happened. She had been taken the first time by ...

Her thoughts froze. When they thawed again, he was almost on top of her. She gasped as if caught unawares, pulling herself up on the bed and away from him before her thoughts caught up.

We've done it before, Gina thought as his body pressed against hers. This is not the first time.

Yet she would not stop trembling, and her breath quickened to an anxious pant. She pushed at his shoulders, relented, and let out a helpless sigh when his cock sank into her.

For a moment, the sheer bliss of the slide of his cock into her slick depths overcame all her uncertainty. Her hands pressed into his chest not to push him away, but to feel his weight atop her. She spread her legs in encouragement until he trapped her under him, his cock buried inside her wet pussy.

"Oh man, Gina, you're tight," Brad moaned.

He would know, Gina thought, but it was swallowed up in the pleasure that now rose as his hips rocked against her body.

Her hands fell limp to the bed as she became his. Her eyes slid closed, breathy moans escaping her parted lips, her head lolling to one side as his cock speared her with hard, body-slapping thrusts that made them bounce on the bed.

She sensed something different. Brad was fucking her, but not the Brad she remembered. But that was a foolish notion. There was only one Brad. She was focusing too much on the details instead of the big picture.

Gina's breath came as tiny explosions timed to Brad's ever more frantic thrusts. It was different. He had not fucked her like this before. His previous approach was more meticulous, like a lover consummating his feelings for his beloved. This Brad rode her like a whore.

Why did it matter?

Pleasure rose like a rocket. Her thighs tensed, her legs wrapping around his. Her fishnet stockings rubbed against his skin, and he shuddered in response, his body slamming even harder into her. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. This was like nothing she remembered.

Why did it matter?

Gina raised her hips to his despite knowing it violated the perception of a complete submissive. She pounded herself against him and let the pleasure fill her head and drown out her silly thoughts.

Why did it matter?

It didn't. She offered herself. He took her. Her sexual being was awakening. As climax approached, her body rose in exultation, her cunt tightening around his cock as she strained.

The pleasure seeped into every corner of her psyche as she clung at the precipice. She would cum, and she would understand. A final initiation. A breaking of a seal. A rite of passage into what she was meant to become.

A first time.

Gina let out a high-pitched whimper, then a cry like a strident gust of wind. Her orgasm seized her mind, making it impossible to think of anything other than the faint remnants what had strayed into her mind moments before. It toppled into the all-consuming sexual bliss that Victor had promised would happen if she had unlocked her true potential.

The stray thoughts finally faded into the haze of sexual euphoria. She did not notice them when her orgasmic high peaked and then descended. Her eyes finally opened to see Brad's thrusts slowing, his cock having spent itself inside her, though still stiff from his lingering excitement.

Gina blinked rapidly a few times as he drew back from her, his cock falling from her pussy, flagging and wet. Her pussy still throbbed even after he was gone from her sex.

"Oh man, Gina," Brad groaned, a weak smile curling his lips. "That was freaking awesome."

"Did I please you, Brad?" Gina asked, her hand alighting on his chest.

"Oh, fuck, yeah! Just sorry it's over already, you know?"

Gina traced her finger through his chest hair. "You said your parents would be gone for awhile?"

"Well, yeah, but--"

"I'll have sex with you again. That was just the first." She blinked. "I-I mean--"

"Yeah, that was a great first time, huh?"

Gina paused. Slowly, she nodded and smiled.

Victor's avatar was a powerful force when ensconced in a mind and buttressed against resistance to its will. It could sense and guide the emotions of its host. When tapping the power of its master, it could bend and shape the host's perception of reality to its liking. When on its own, however, it worked with what it had, using its host's own psyche to help it.

It worked because all minds wanted the familiar, the explainable, the comforting. The avatar played with these concepts like a fiddle, writing its own music to a rhythm that Gina's subconscious would follow as if chasing after the pied piper.

Yet an avatar could only do so much.

Victor had been firm in his orders: Gina must remain properly submissive; Gina must understand her duties; Gina must not falter in her perception that the road to a complete sexual awakening was the only path to happiness; Gina must remember that great pleasure awaited her obedience to Victor's directives.

The avatar had seen the niggling doubts skittering about Gina's mind and had chosen not to waste its precious energy in chasing them down. Victor was too engaged in his own troubled thoughts to either monitor Gina's mind or provide more energy for his avatar.

Finally, the avatar felt his master's touch. A glowing report was the response. Gina was accepting her new role. What little stray doubts remained would be overwhelmed. Their strength was feeble compared to the day before.

It sensed that Victor was pleased.

Cassie and Ned sat in the limo in an awkward silence as Harry drove them to the costumer. Cassie could not bring herself to look in his direction, and he could not stop taking furtive glances at her.

Cassie was afraid that anything she said would turn to the topic that she wanted very much to avoid as long as possible. Even without the words, she could sense his feelings. Some of it was the link, some of it was her. With the boost to her psychic abilities came a weak empathic sense, strongest with Ned, his emotional makeup more familiar to her.

Ned felt the need to break the silence. "So, um, you give any thought ta what I s'ggested 'bout yer costume?"

Cassie's head jerked towards him as soon as the first words were out of his mouth, as if she had longed to hear him speak after all. She glanced at Harry. "I hadn't had time to think about it, no."

"How 'bout now?" Ned asked. He noticed Cassie's gaze. "Or do ya not wanna ... um, cuz ...?" He tipped his head towards Harry.

Cassie was tired of feeling like she had to censor herself in Harry's presence. She shook her head and realized how confused that reply would be to Ned. "I'm tempted, Ned," Cassie said, raising her voice as if feeling the need for defiance. "It would probably be a lot more fun that what my mother wants."

Ned grinned. "I sure wouldn't mind. Um, I mean, it would look good on ya."

Cassie smiled and nodded. She knew exactly what he had meant.

"By the way, jus' cuz I'm curious, what did Diane say she wanted ta go as?"

Cassie's smile faded. She suspected this was just a backhanded way of triggering other thoughts of Diane. "She originally wanted to go as a ... as a sort of slave girl," Cassie said in a low voice.

"Oh, yeah?" Ned said, his lips curling into a grin.

"I convinced her otherwise. And I had thought that after what Heather was put through she wouldn't want ... well, that is, that was before I knew you had ... before she ..."

Flustered, Cassie trailed off.

Ned had to bite back his original response, that Diane's original idea was more appropriate now. "Um, so what did ya convince her ta go as?"

"The costumer had a nice genie costume," Cassie said. "I thought that was sort of the best of both worlds."

"Heh, yeah, unless we want wishes granted, if ya know what--"

Cassie glared at him. Ned cleared his throat and fell silent.

The limo pulled to the curb. Cassie gave Ned an apologetic look, though his eyes were averted. She had not meant to snap at him. The resentment was hard to lose despite her attempts to convince herself that it was not Ned's fault. Yet now he had put the thought of Diane into her head, which swirled with thoughts that would have appalled her only a few days before.

They climbed out of the limo. Cassie raced towards the costume shop. Ned jogged next to her and touched her arm. "Hey, wait, babe."

Cassie whirled around and failed at not appearing annoyed. "Ned, we should get this done. I don't want to keep Armando waiting longer than he has to. He normally doesn't work on Saturday and is doing this as a favor for me."

"Look, I know yer mad at me, but--"

"I am not mad at you."

"And that jus' proves it, cuz the only time a girl sez she's not mad is when she's mad."

"I'm mad at the situation." Cassie hesitated and sighed. "All right, maybe I am a little mad at you. I wish you had at least talked to the rest of us about it. And I know most of this isn't going to make any sense at all because you already believe too strongly that this is simply the way things should be."

Cassie sucked in air, having spoken her mind in a single breath.

"I dunno what to say," said Ned. "It jus' makes sense ta me."

"I know. That's the problem."

"If ya think 'bout it, ya gotta see its--"

"Ned, please," Cassie said in a strained voice. She swallowed hard. She had hoped that some of the psychic abilities she had tapped would protect her, but the urge grew to stop arguing and just accept it.

"I'm sorry, babe, but it's better if we all see it the same way."

"I don't want to do this to anyone."

"It's different with Diane. This is what she was meant fer."

Cassie shook her head and turned away. "Let's just get you measured," she mumbled as she rushed for the door.

The door flew open, as someone on the other side pushed it out at the same time. Cassie uttered a startled gasp as Diane nearly fell into her.

"Oh! I'm sorry," Diane said.

All Cassie could do was stare. Finally she blinked and forced herself to say, "I-It's okay. I'm fine. Um, did you get your measurements done?"

Diane nodded. "I had a little trouble with the costume man ... Armando, I think? ... Anyway, he thought the costume wasn't suitable for someone underage."

"Do you need me to talk to him, Diane?"

"No, it's okay. After I talked to him for a bit, he realized that this was right for me after all." She smiled. "He suggested that my original choice might be more appropriate."

Cassie started to nod and caught herself.

"So can he get ya the slave outfit after all?" Ned asked.

"He said he probably doesn't have any more like that in my size," Diane said. "I ... I hope you're not displeased with me, Master."

Cassie shivered.

"Nah, not yer fault," said Ned. "Jus' make sure ya fill out that genie costume nicely."

Cassie bit her lip hard, trying to renew her anger with Ned to block out the other feelings surging inside her. She closed her eyes, but this only brought the unbidden images in her head into focus. She saw Diane modeling a skimpy, diaphanous slave girl outfit for her and Ned.

Heat gathered between her legs, forcing her eyes open in a vain attempt to dispel the unwanted desires. "We need to get Ned measured. Excuse me."

Diane darted out of the way. "Of course, Mistress."

Cassie stopped, and Ned almost ran into her. "Diane, don't ..." she began, stopping when Diane's dark and obedient eyes turned towards her.

"Yes, Mistress?" Diane prompted when Cassie did not reply after a few seconds.

Cassie tried again to say what she wanted to before, but now it would be a lie. She did like hearing the title, and she sensed what it was doing to Diane, her own pussy growing damp in response.

"Nothing," Cassie murmured. She ducked inside before her resolve could dissolve any further.

"Melinda, I need to see you for a minute."

Melinda and Heather looked up. They were both sitting cross-legged on the floor of the attic, sorting through old magazines and newspapers to prepare them for the recycling center. Penny stood a few steps down from the top of the ladder, her robe replaced by faded jeans and a plain, buttoned flannel shirt.

"At least you got dressed," Melinda muttered. In a louder voice she said, "What do you want, Mom?"

"Just come downstairs with me."

"But what do you want?"

"Melinda, don't argue with me, just come down," Penny said. She retreated down the ladder.

"But, Mom, why--"

Heather grabbed her arm.

Melinda yanked it away. "What?"

"Just see what she wants, runt," Heather said in a low voice. "Don't rock the boat."

"You still feel something is going to happen to me?"

Heather nodded.

"Then come downstairs with me, please."

"I told you, whatever it is, it doesn't happen in the house."

Melinda sighed and scrambled towards the ladder. "You better be right about that!"

Melinda climbed down the ladder and jumped the last three rungs. "Don't do that, Melinda, you're going to hurt yourself," came Penny's voice at the other end of the upstairs hall.

Melinda bounded over to her mother. "Okay, so what do you want?"

"I need you to run an errand for me."

Melinda gaped. "What??"

"I need something from the Hillcrest health food store. I'd go myself, but I'm expecting an important phone call."

"Have them call your cell phone!" Melinda cried.

"Melinda, I said don't argue with me. Just go do what I want." She pulled out a slip of paper from the pocket of her jeans. "I have the list right here."

Melinda made no move to take it when it was presented to her. "And you just suddenly need something from there right now? Today?"

"This won't take long, you just have to go down Green Avenue and take a right turn on--"

"Fine, I'll go later," Melinda said as she turned away.

Penny grabbed her arm and spun her around. "You'll go now, young lady, unless you want me to ground you for the rest of the year, and that includes the Halloween party on Monday."

"You said you wouldn't do this!" Melinda cried. Behind her, Heather climbed down the ladder. "You said you didn't want to do this to me!"

"I am not doing anything to you," Penny said, though her voice was strained. She looked past Melinda. "And I don't want to hear anything from you on this matter, either."

Heather jogged up. "I'll go with her, Mom."

"You will do no such thing. I need you here to continue your chores."

"Tough," Melinda snapped. "I want Heather to come with me."

"No."

Melinda folded her arms. "Then forget it. I'm not going, and you can't make me."

Penny sighed and hid her eyes behind her hand for a moment. "Melinda, please, don't put me in this position."

"Put you in this position?" Heather said, aghast.

"Heather, stop it. You're making this harder than it needs to be."

"What the fuck does that mean? Are you really going to have something happen to her?"

"For the last time, Heather, don't use that language in my house!" Penny shouted. "Melinda, do as I say. Don't ... don't make me get any more strict with you than I already have."

Both Melinda and Heather fell into a stunned silence.

"I c-can make you do this," Penny said in a lower voice. "Just ... just like I stopped you from going out that night. Don't make me do this to you."

The silence became more heavy and oppressive. Neither of the girls knew what to say. Their mother had never made such a stark admission of her willingness to use Dark power against her daughters.

Penny frowned. "You don't understand. Neither of you do. You wouldn't listen. I didn't want you to get involved. I was trying my best not to get you involved."

"So this is our fault?" Melinda cried.

"I didn't say that! But you're not making it any easier, either." Penny took a quick, deep breath. "Melinda, go to the store as I told you to. It ... it will be very pleasant for you if you do."

Melinda's eyes widened as she saw tendrils of her mother's Aura whipping through the air towards her. She gasped and backed away, but knew what she was seeing was only metaphorical. The Darkness had slithered into her mind and sent waves of tingling heat rolling over her skin and gathering in her sex. Melinda let out a husky sigh and shivered.

Heather stared as a weak Aura cocooned Melinda's body. "Stop it! Just stop it!"

"Then help me convince her to go," Penny said.

"Convince my own sister to walk into a trap? Yeah, that's brilliant, Mom!"

Penny gave Heather an imploring look before turning back to Melinda. "Go to the store, honey."

Melinda shuddered and moaned. Any thought of her mother's task made her pussy ooze fresh, hot moisture and ache with need.

Heather clenched her teeth. She grabbed Melinda by the collar of her shirt and dragged her back, then interspersed herself between Melinda and her mother. "I said stop it."

"Heather, this will all be over after Halloween," Penny said in a steadier voice. "Then there won't be anything for you or Melinda to object to. But until then, some ... some sacrifices are necessary."

Heather shook with fury. "And that's what ... that's what we are to you? A couple of sacrifices?"

Melinda clutched at Heather. She shivered as the Dark power sent waves of blissful sexual pleasure through her body so long as she thought of obeying her mother. Every time she tried to push it out of her head, her mother would speak, and the cascade of rewarding pleasure began once more.

Penny swallowed hard and let out a shaky sigh. "If Melinda doesn't do what I want of her, a lot worse is going to happen. And I won't be able to do anything to protect you."

"You're not protecting us now!" Heather exploded.

"Then you won't be able to protect yourselves!" Penny screamed. "You think this is something you can hold up against?! You think you can handle being attacked from two fronts at the same time?!"

"Two fronts? So this does have something to do with Victor Mann!"

"I didn't mean ... I ... a-all right, yes, it does! Now do you think you can handle it? Look at Melinda. She couldn't hold up against just the little bit I did to her! How do you think she's going to hold out against that and him? How do you think any of you can?!"

Trembling, Melinda stepped out from behind Heather, staring at her hysterical mother as if she had never seen this woman before in her life. Heather wrapped an arm around Melinda's waist and drew her close.

"This is bad enough," Penny said, her voice quavering. Her eyes glistened as if on the verge of tears. "You're just making it worse. You want to blame me? Fine. Blame me all you want. Hate me if it makes you feel any better. But it doesn't change anything."

Heather searched her head for something appropriate to say, but Melinda spoke first, her voice weak. "All right, I'll go."

"Melinda, wait--" Heather started.

Melinda turned to her mother. "But I'm going to take my own sweet time doing it. Don't expect me to do this fast."

Heather let out a small sigh through her nose. She guessed what Melinda was planning to do but wished Melinda did not feel the need to throw it in her mother's face.

Penny stepped forward and cupped her daughter's face in her hands. Melinda gasped as the tendrils of Darkness slithered and constricted about her mind.

"You'll go directly to the store, honey," Penny said in a sweet voice. "Because that's the only way you'll feel the pleasure."

"M-Mom, no, p-please ... " Melinda begged.

"Pleasure, Melinda, and sweet little orgasms if you obey me."

Melinda's pussy rose as she contemplated her task.

"You'll despair if you don't get them. You won't be able to cum again if you don't obey."

Melinda whimpered. He pussy strained, her hips twitching and writhing as she tried in vain to crest. Heather watched in dismay as a sense of alarm came over the link. The others were alert to the danger, but did not have the energy to help defend Melinda; what they had gained the day before had run dry, burned up helping Heather against both Ms. Bendon and Ms. Hollis the day before.

Heather realized from her vision that the power was needed later, not now. This confrontation was the wrong battle to fight.

"I'm sorry to do this to you," Penny said. "I'm sorry."

Melinda let out a deep sigh as her mother withdrew her hands and stepped back. An Aura swirled around Melinda's body, and she struggled to take command of her own thoughts against it to no avail.

"Now, Melinda, will you go to the store for me?"

"Yes," Melinda breathed. Her pussy crested, and a gentle orgasm swept over her, her thoughts swimming in a warm sea of blissful obedience.

"Thank you for being a good girl for me, Melinda."

Melinda paused to take a few breaths to steady herself. Obedience did not mean love, and as she turned away, she cast a look of pure, bitter-cold hatred at her mother.

Heather watched her younger sister walk down the stairs and out the front door as if in a dream. Heather turned back to her mother, eyes blazing. "Melinda was right," she said, her voice as cold as Melinda's eyes had been. "You're a complete failure as a mother."

She turned on her heel and headed into her room, slamming the door behind her. Tears trickled down Penny's cheeks as she turned towards the stairs.

Jason emerged from his room still pulling on his jacket. He bounded down the stairs and was just short of the garage when a voice rang out from behind him.

"And just where the hell do you think you're going?"

Jason whirled around, more surprised at the language than the tone. "I finished what Dad assigned me to do," he blurted as Melinda's cry for help still echoed in his head.

Audrey advanced on him, hands on hips. "And what makes you think that was the only thing I wanted you to do today? What makes you think I'm intending to let you set foot out of this house today?"

Jason was never a child who pitted parent against parent. He knew a lot of peers that not only relied on it, but boasted about it. He despised the practice, but had little choice. "Dad said I could."

"Oh, did he? And why didn't he come tell me about that?"

"Perhaps because Jason finished his task earlier than I thought he would," said Henry as he entered the hall. Audrey spun around. Henry looked past her and glared at Jason. "And I was under the impression he would have enough sense to wait until I had a chance to speak with you and not stir the pot any more than it already had been."

Jason met his father's gaze with a stony one of his own. He had intended to wait until he heard Melinda's plea and felt the chill of the Darkness.

"For the love of God, Henry!" Audrey shouted. "Is it too much too ask that I know what the hell is going on in my own home?! I already have no idea just what you do with most of the time you spend at that damn hospital!"

"Don't go there, Audrey," Henry said.

"Don't you DARE tell me where I can and can't go!" She whirled around to face Jason. "Jason, you're grounded for two weeks. Go to your room!"

Jason was so stunned at the look of raw fury in his mother's eyes that her words had yet to sink in. By the time they did and panic rose to greet them, his father spoke.

"Audrey, that's not fair."

Audrey stared at him, red-faced, eyes wide.

"He did what was asked of him. We had a long talk about him and Melinda. He knows the score. He knows to fly right by you from now on."

Audrey's mouth worked for a few seconds with no sound coming out. When she finally did speak, her voice quavered and cracked. "Well that's just great! Just fine and dandy, right? Everything right as rain! Did you talk to him about everything else? About the other girls? About it happening right in the hallways at school?!"

Jason blinked and stared. Just how lurid had these rumors become?

"I have half a mind to go down to that school Monday morning and find out what the hell they think they're doing! I shouldn't be required to police my son both here and at school!"

Jason was caught between panic that his mother would go to the school and run afoul of Laura Bendon, and anger over the idea that he needed to be "policed." He finally had to say something. "Mom, there's nothing bad going on at school. Even if there was, I'm not dumb enough to get involved in it."

This seemed to take the wind out of Audrey's sails for a moment, and she gave him a flustered look. "I am not saying you're dumb, Jason. Don't put words into my mouth!"

"Audrey, you're understandably upset," Henry said.

"Well, I'm glad someone concedes something about my feelings!" Audrey cried. Jason feared she was on the verge of tears.

"Jason is fourteen. And as such, he has earned the right to make some decisions for himself. If some of those turn out to be wrong, that's just part of--"

"I don't want him to get hurt!" Audrey wailed. "Don't you understand that? Don't either of you understand that?!"

Now Jason wondered if his mother had gleaned some insight that something was happening in Haven. Mrs. Radson had been there before her: a persistent feeling that something was off, but nothing specific at which to point. While his mother had none of the abilities Mrs. Radson had, Jason thought this might operate at a deeper level, considering her husband was involved.

Jason couldn't wait any longer. If he had guessed right, Melinda was away from the house by now. "Mom, I'm sorry I upset you. I didn't mean to. I really--"

"Didn't I tell you to go to your room?!" Audrey yelled.

"But Mom, I--"

"Jason," Henry said, his eyes hard.

Jason clenched his hands into fists. He stared at his father, expecting the betrayal now.

His father turned back to his mother. "Audrey, you're not mad at Jason, you're mad at me. Stop taking it out on him."

Audrey looked about to explode. She raised her fists and brought them down as if intending to strike at his chest, but dropped them to her sides. She heaved a single sob and turned away, covering her eyes with her hand.

Jason swallowed, his throat tight.

"Jason."

Jason's gaze snapped to his father's.

"Go," Henry said. "And be damn sure you're back before sundown."

Jason tried to say something, but his throat had closed up. He nodded and fled.

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