Jason entered a house of brooding silence. His father worked in the back yard while his mother sulked in the sewing room. A bare nod of her head was the only acknowledgement she offered when he told her that he was back only long enough to check if he had received an email from a friend.

Jason walked to his room at a sedate pace to avoid giving his mother a reason for complaint. He closed the door to his room and fetched the Book. The pendant under his shirt grew warm against his chest.

You're making the right decision.

Jason was not sure if it were his own thought or that of the Book. He opened the window and looked down. From the front yard, Richie looked up and pantomimed holding a baseball mitt open above his head as if about to catch a fly ball.

Jason hesitated another moment, then chucked the Book out the window. In his fantasy, the Book would vanish into thin air. Instead, he heard a hard noise at the end of its descent. Jason ducked his head out the window and saw Richie with the Book tucked under one arm. Richie gave a thumbs-up with his free hand.

Jason dashed out of the house. Richie had walked away towards the intersection, where Heather awaited them beside the bikes.

"You got it," Heather said with relief.

"Yes, but I'm not sure it will work," Jason said.

Richie frowned. "Huh? Now what?"

"I remembered reading that the spell required everyone who was linked to participate in order to tap into the power. With Melinda--" Jason's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "With Melinda absent, we might have a problem."

"We have to do something! Even if it gives her just a little power from the sex. She's never going to hold out against that cult if we don't."

"Cult?"

"Yes, cult. I saw it in my last vision, and I can see it now through the link. Everyone's dressed in robes and chanting."

"Can you hear what they're saying?"

"I don't understand it, it's not English." Heather shivered. "It sounds a lot like the language used for the incantations in the Book."

Jason could have kicked himself. He had seen patterns in the syllables used in the spells and had meant to work out the grammar rules, but never had the time.

"They're having some sort of effect on her," Heather said.

"How the hell can they do shit if we don't know what the fuck they mean?" Richie said.

"It doesn't matter what the words actually mean," Jason said. "They can make her believe that they're doing something. It's not that hard with that sort of power. We all associate weird, arcane-sounding chants with magic and the supernatural. We're already predisposed to expect something to happen. Maybe the spells in the Book rely on the same mechanism.

"Well, what are we waiting around here for, Einstein?" said Richie, mounting his bike. "Let's fucking go already."

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

Melinda pulled at her restraints, muscles cording on her arms and legs, but the ropes allowed no slack. She panted hard, her heart pounding from fear as much as her pussy oozed with lust.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

Melinda whimpered. Her hips squirmed. Her toes curled as she fought the ropes once more to draw her legs closed in the vain hope that rubbing her thighs together would relieve the terrible ache. Her legs remained splayed and her pussy helpless.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

Melinda squeezed her eyes shut. The words were nonsense. She couldn't parse them into anything remotely resembling something she knew. Yet their meaning was not lost on her. Each recitation injected more raw desire into her body; her pussy became wetter and hotter; her lust consumed more of her mind; thoughts became more difficult to form.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

And her fear mounted until she was shaking.

That emotion was entirely her own, but her captors did nothing to quell it. Melinda wanted to scream at them that this was not how it was supposed to work. They were supposed to fill her with sexual need to the exclusion of all else.

They were not supposed to tie her up, either. She saw only the heightening of her fear as their motivation, as if they intended to frighten her as much as they intended to fuck her.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

Melinda moaned. She wanted something in her pussy. A finger, a tongue, a cock, anything that would take away the ache. Her wetness trickled down her slit and spotted the sheet under her.

She understood now. They wanted total submission. They wanted her to plead for her own enslavement. That's really what the words meant: submit, become one, obey.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

The words almost bubbled out of her mouth. Finger her. Fuck her. Do anything to her, as long as they touched her pussy. She held them back, but the cultists had sensed her faltering will. Two stepped forward, one on each side, and crawled towards her on the bed. Their fingers played with her breasts, and their tongues flicked at her hard nipples.

"G-God ..." Melinda groaned in a strangled voice. She clenched her teeth. "N-No ..."

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

Sheer stubbornness fueled her resistance where willpower had failed, relying on her instinctual need for defiance. She imagined herself holding out against Heather, and how satisfying it felt to thwart her big sister. Most of the time she gave in because she desired the sexual contact herself. Only now did Melinda admit to herself that she enjoyed her sexual trysts with Heather. She used them as a means to maintain a connection with her sister, as she felt it was the only thing in common between them.

Melinda finally understood not just how petty and annoying others found her behavior, but why she did it. She believed that acting like a brat was her only source of power against the Darkness. Without it, she was afraid she would cave in just to avoid a fight that frightened her more than she cared to admit.

"Kethr'quixla nox'thrissa orgos ron'yenqua."

The words felt lighter. She could hold out a little longer. But if someone did not come to her rescue soon, she was going to lose herself to them. She had no idea whether it would be temporary or permanent. Not knowing terrified her.

Gina clutched the pillow, her eyes closed. Short pants and gasps escaped her parted lips in the same rhythm that her ass slapped against Brad's body. Each thrust sunk deep into her wet pussy, each stroke as good as the last, this round of sex as pleasurable as his tongue had been inside her pussy a short while ago.

Gina wondered why Victor had never tried it this way with her.

Brad moaned, his balls aching from the number of times he had cum. He had never done the rounds three times before. He glanced down at her high heels and grinned. He loved seeing her in those. He didn't have to tell her to leave them on. She left them on simply because he had not told her to take them off.

Man, it's gonna be so cool taking her to the party, he thought.

He wondered what Heather would think. Would she be jealous? Would she want him again? Maybe if he played his cards right, he could have two girls that evening. Gina made him feel like he could do anything.

Gina moaned as her pleasure soared, and Victor drifted into her mind again. She imagined him behind her, his thick cock pounding into her. Her pussy tightened around Brad's cock in response to her lusty fantasy. Through the euphoric sexual haze came a single question: Why did she think Brad had been her first when it had been Victor?

Gina had no reason to ask such a question. She had given herself to Brad, and he was fucking her. All was as it should be. Her question was an irrelevant detail. The answer was simple anyway: because that was what she had thought at the time.

But why did she think that way?

Brad groaned, his cock straining. He grasped her hips and yanked her towards him with each thrust into her slick pussy. Gina's pleasure rose with his but properly trailed just behind. His pleasure first, then her pleasure by his leave.

But why did she think this way?

In her tumultuous state of mind, nothing could suppress or censor the truth: because Victor let her believe it.

Brad slammed his cock home and threw his head back as he throbbed. Gina squealed as she crested seconds later. He had wanted her to cum, to writhe and thrash in the throes of a climax delivered by his superior skill in the sexual arts, and thus Gina obliged.

Gina moaned, her pussy throbbing as hard as it had the previous times. Her mind slipped into total erotic bliss, her ecstasy feeding back into her obedience, bringing the two concepts closer together in her mind.

Because Victor let you believe it.

Gina let out a long, soft sigh as her orgasm played out. Panting, Brad drew back from her, turned, and plopped down on the edge of the bed. "Oh man ..."

Gina opened her eyes and rose on all fours. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, then rolled over and sat up. "Did I please you?"

"Shit, Gina, I don't think there's any way you can't please me!" Brad said with a short, shaky laugh. "Man, I've never fucked that long in one day."

Because Victor let you believe it.

Gina blinked rapidly a few times. For some inexplicable reason, she felt the urge to ask him if he had ever fucked her in Victor's office. It would have made more sense to her than the idea that Victor would ...

Brad put his hand on Gina's thigh and squeezed it. "You still want to do this the night of the party?"

"Yes, Brad," said Gina with a soft eagerness in her voice. "Whenever you want to do it."

"Damn. I wish my parents were gone tomorrow, too."

"Any time you want."

Brad smirked and chuckled. "You're starting to sound like you're my slave or something."

Because Victor let you believe it.

Victor let her believe that Brad had been her first instead of Victor, despite Victor's claim that she was not ready for him yet. But why did it matter?

It didn't. "Yes," Gina finally said.

Brad eyed her. "Huh?"

"Yes," she repeated, staring straight ahead. "That's ... that's what I am, isn't it?"

"Um ..."

"Yes," Gina said again, letting out a sigh of relief as her odd and disturbing thoughts retreated for now. "I'm your slave."

"You ... you're not ... holy shit, you really mean it, don't you?"

Gina smiled and nodded.

"So ... so you have to call me Master now?"

"Yes, Master."

Brad grinned. "This is gonna be so freaking cool."

Jason had become so aware of the energy patterns that were associated with not just the Darkness but the powers of the mind in general that he could feel his own thoughts being shaped.

Heather did not have to speak. Her presence was enough for her perception of reality to impinge on his own. He had abetted it by dwelling on Diane and her predicament, the need to question it growing less urgent each time. Complete acceptance was slower to manifest, but Jason feared it would follow soon after.

Having her ride his bike with her arms wrapped around him and her breasts pressed into his back did not help. With the adrenaline rush gone, the link and its need came to the fore. He felt guilty to be thinking about sex when Melinda was in such dire straits, then foolish over the guilt since sex was the driving need that might help her.

The three said nothing to each other as they dismounted and locked up the bicycles in the rear of the park before heading out onto the greenbelt. Even as they entered the backyard of the meeting house, they acted as strangers that happened to be traveling to the same location.

Jason glanced at Richie and wished he could share in the casual attitude that Richie seemed to exhibit towards the situation.

Heather finally broke the silence as she paused at the back door. "I don't think Cassie is here yet. I didn't see her limo anywhere."

"Well, we have to do something," Jason muttered.

"I know, I just--"

Jason stepped around her and marched inside, his fingers curled hard around the edges of the Book.

Heather sighed and looked at Richie. Richie just shrugged and followed Jason.

Ned greeted them at the archway between the living room and the dining area, grinning and wearing only his briefs, his cock tenting the fabric. "Gangs all here, huh?"

Jason wanted to call him out for daring to even consider smiling at a time like this. "Yeah, and I got the Book."

"Our li'l bundle of obedient love is waitin' fer us, all primed and ready."

Richie had peered past Ned, and now Jason did as well.

Diane was naked, kneeling on the floor before the sofa. Her pussy lay exposed and damp between parted thighs. Her hands cupped her breasts, fondling them and teasing the nipples. Her breathing was a low, soft pant, her body shivering with unrelenting desire.

Even Richie looked a bit surprised, raising his eyebrows as if unsure how to react. Jason said nothing and simply stared, his body commenting for him as his cock hardened.

"Shit, she's really gonna be our slave?" Richie asked, looking askance at Ned.

Ned smirked. "She is our slave, dude."

"Yeah, that's what Heather said. I'll believe it when I see it."

"Then go fer it."

"Huh?"

Ned stepped to one side and swept his arm towards Diane. "Take 'er out fer a test ride."

Heather slowly smiled. Jason swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to remember Diane as a Harbinger.

Richie gave Ned a skeptical look and stepped forward. As he approached, Diane looked up. Jason was startled by the dark lust in her eyes.

"Yes, Master?" she asked in a breathless, sultry voice.

"Shit, that's weird coming from you," Richie said.

Diane just kept looking up at him, eager and expectant.

Richie looked back at the others for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. He gave up his hesitation before Victor's perception could do it for him. "Okay, fine." He undid his belt and shoved his jeans and briefs down his legs. Diane stared at his cock as it grew stiff before her eyes.

She knew what he wanted. A second after Richie had disentangled himself from his clothing, she grasped his cock near his balls and the rest disappeared into her warm mouth.

Richie shuddered. She drew back, lips and tongue clamped to his hard flesh, lingered on the most sensitive spot, then sucked him in again. She tilted her head back on the return, her tongue drawing firm strokes against the underside of his cock.

"Fuck," Richie groaned, and rocked his hips in time to her mouth. "For a lezzie, you're good at this."

"Been teachin' her a few things," Ned said with a wide grin.

Heather chuckled. She stepped over to Diane and stroked her hair. "Richie, if she does that half as good as she licks pussy, you won't be disappointed."

"Oh man, yeah," Richie moaned.

Jason had not moved. His fingers were numb where they still gripped the Book. He finally tucked it under one arm and shook out his hand.

The distraction did not help. He recalled how much he had enjoyed the few times that he had control over Melinda. He could recapture those moments now.

Yet it was the same danger they had confronted at the House. In that moment of rational clarity, Jason resented Ned for presenting him with power he did not want. It vanished seconds later, resentment becoming envy when Ned stripped off his briefs and Diane stroked his cock with her long, nimble fingers. Richie fall from his mouth, and she took Ned's cock instead, head bobbing in eager obedience.

"W-we should get the spell started," Jason said in a weak voice.

Ned looked over his shoulder. "Gotta have Cassie here fer that. Meanwhile, enjoy yerself and let's see if we can get some energy to Melinda."

Any protest against the idea that he could enjoy himself died when Heather crouched behind Diane and reached between her lover's legs. Diane shuddered and let out a breathy moan as her Mistress' fingers sank into her cunt. She switched from Ned back to Richie, his cock disappearing into her hungry mouth.

Melinda, Jason thought as he started forward. This is for Melinda. For MELINDA.

"Let Jason take your place, Ned," Heather said in a husky voice.

Ned glanced at her as he rocked his hips in time to Diane's strokes. "Got sumthing in mind?"

"Yeah, your cock in my pussy."

Jason saw just a moment's hesitation on Ned's face, a sigh of relief passing his lips. He had needed to see some sign that they had not forgotten who they were or for whom they cared.

"Heh, can't argue with an offer like that," Ned drawled.

Jason pulled off his shirt and stepped forward. The moment Jason had his jeans down, Ned nudged Diane's hand from his cock. "Go give Jason a bit o'finger-fun, slave."

Jason uttered a small gasp as Diane's fingers sought his cock before he pulled his briefs down. He stumbled as her fingers stroked him hard before he had a chance to step out of the clothing crumpled around his feet.

He should tell her to stop. He should excuse himself and wait until they could properly perform the spell. He did not have to indulge himself.

His eyes met Diane's face as her mouth slid down Richie's cock. He saw Richie's hands clench and unclench, and his body shudder.

"S-suck me, too, slave," Jason said.

Diane obliged. Jason lost himself to the sexual delight.

Cassie sat in the back of the limo trying to keep herself calm and failing. She sensed the raw sexual abandon surging from the other Harbingers over the link. Her pussy was still so wet; masturbating in the bathroom had only removed the immediate urgency.

Her mind visited each of the other Harbingers in turn, and she channeled their pleasure and their desires into her own psyche. She felt Richie and then Jason cum into Diane's mouth. She felt Ned fucking Heather. She squeezed her legs together and bit back a moan.

She forced herself to retreat from their minds as the limo pulled up outside the park. She took a few deep breaths and conjured a shield before the link. It lasted long enough to depart from the limo in a dignified manner and stroll into the park without breaking stride. As she reached the greenbelt, it deteriorated enough for her to feel the shared orgasm between Ned and Heather. Cassie's mind slid into Heather's before she could stop herself, and her own pussy throbbed for a few moments as well.

The power that Stephanie had given her was still not under her complete control. Shielding was the only thing she had managed to accomplish. Her efforts to restore it were futile in light of her mounting desire. She picked up her dress and ran for the house.

Cassie touched Melinda's mind, holding on to the link as an anchor. Even brushing Melinda's consciousness was such a shock that she stumbled. Raw lust and icy fear crashed into Cassie's mind like tidal waves. If she had slipped inside Melinda's mind, she was sure she would have fallen to the ground masturbating and crying at the same time.

Suddenly the pressure on Melinda's mind eased. Melinda had taken some of the energy generated by the other Harbingers to resist whatever they were doing to her.

Cassie entered the back yard and slowed as she crossed it, whimpering when her pussy suddenly strained on the brink of orgasm and then retreated in cruel mockery of her need. She advanced no more than a few steps when it happened again, and she fell to the ground when her knees gave out.

Cassie moaned and closed her eyes. She was sliding in and out of Harbinger minds with the chaos and intensity of a roller coaster. She set a final trembling shield in place across the portal to the link and stood up.

It was the others that were straining. Many of them had sent themselves to the brink of orgasm and were holding themselves there. Or were being held.

Cassie panicked at the thought that Victor's people were taking control of the Harbingers through Melinda. Only when she could force a thought through the miasma of lust did she realize that her own perception would have been altered as well, and she would be unable to question it.

She dashed for the house and barreled inside. At the threshold to the living room, she stopped and stared.

Diane was sprawled out on the floor, squirming and writhing. Richie pounded his cock into her pussy. Heather straddled Diane's head, Diane's face buried between Heather's thighs. Jason and Ned knelt on either side, moaning as Diane stroked their cocks with her hands.

"G-goodness ..." Cassie moaned, clutching at her blouse.

Jason tried to turn his head and stumbled backwards, Diane's fingers slipping from his cock. He panted hard, his balls bulging and his cock tinged purple. "Cassie," he croaked. "Cassie's here. Richie, stop, C-Cassie ..."

"Yeah ... okay ... fine ..." Richie panted as his cock popped from Diane's pussy with a wet sound. He fell back on his rear and cursed.

Ned was slow to pull himself away. Cassie stared, eyes wide. She had never seen him so aroused. She was sure she did not remember him being that endowed. Or perhaps her own mind was magnifying his erection in her lust-soaked perception.

Heather collapsed onto all fours, panting.

"What's the matter?" Cassie asked in rising concern.

"We sorta started it, babe," Ned said, his voice cracking.

"I-I don't understand. You can't cum?"

"Temporarily," Jason breathed as he struggled to his feet. "Part of the ritual. Hold back cumming to build up energy."

Cassie whimpered and squeezed her legs together with a faint squishing noise. "J-Jason, I can't do that. Make me hold back cumming at this point and I'll go insane!"

"We don't need to," Jason said, a pained look on his face as he held his engorged member. "I just have to do the next incantation and then she can make us cum in turn. Then we make her cum. Then--"

Jason felt some of the wind knocked out of him as Richie slammed the Book into his chest. "Make with the fucking magic already!"

Jason caught the Book before it fell and nodded.

Cassie felt like she was suffocating in her clothes. She started undoing her blouse. "H-how do we do this, Jason?"

Jason held the Book in his arms, and the pages flipped of their own accord to the spell. "Guys have to do intercourse. Girls have oral sex."

"Sh-she does me, right?" Cassie asked. Oh please say yes!

"Yes. She doesn't get to cum until after."

Cassie threw her blouse to the floor and pulled down the rest of her dress. Her panties were soaked through and tugged into her slit. She moaned and staggered when she reached behind her back to unhook her bra. I should have just left my underwear at home, she lamented.

She looked at Diane and felt ashamed that she had not even thought to see how her fellow Harbinger was doing. Now she hesitated, as Diane was lying still on the floor, staring up at the ceiling with glazed eyes.

"She's in a trance," Jason said. "It happened when I did the first part of the spell."

Cassie wanted to ask if Diane would come out of it okay, but she also wanted the wonderful excuse to straddle Diane's lovely face and ...

"P-please let me go first," Cassie said. "I have to go first!"

"Sure thing, babe," Ned said with a small smile.

"I have to learn how to filter this or I'll go insane," Cassie murmured.

"Huh?"

Cassie shook her head as she tore her panties in her zeal to remove them. She turned to Jason. "I'm ready."

"I'll do the next incantation," Jason said. "Then--"

"Then our slave will lick my pussy," Cassie said with a regal certainty reminiscent of her mother.

Gina smiled and waved to Brad as she walked away from the door, holding her coat closed. Brad grinned and waved back before shutting the door.

As she stepped to the curb, Victor's car drove up. She let herself in.

"Did it go well?" Victor asked.

"Yes, Master, it did."

"And did you offer yourself as I instructed you?"

"Yes. I'm his slave now."

Victor smiled and nodded. "Very good." He put the car in gear and started away from the curb.

Gina watched Brad's house slip away. She faced forward, her mind churning with the odd questions that had come to her earlier and their strange answers. The unease was sensed by Victor's avatar, which thought little of it, but Victor was monitoring the ebb and flow of Gina's psyche at that moment. "You have something on your mind, Gina?"

Gina opened her mouth and hesitated, as if the words were stuck. "I ... was thinking about my first time with Brad, Master."

"I am sure you remember it fondly."

"Yes, of course I do, Master."

"It was very generous of him to agree to assist."

Gina looked at him. The words formed in a small corner of her mind but did not make it to her mouth, nor changed the pattern of emotions in her head that Victor could sense: I just had my first time with him now.

"You took to it well. You have much to be proud of, Gina. You have advanced much since then."

Gina smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Master."

Her mind became quiescent, and Victor withdrew. He had other places he needed to direct his energies, such as the cultists overseeing Melinda's incarceration.

Gina stared out of the window. Her emotions held rigid and neutral, a barrier against her deeper thoughts, which in turn were a swirling cauldron that obscured the single idea that now lay at the darkest depths of Gina's mind.

Victor lied to me, and made me believe it.

All her other thoughts and beliefs lay undisturbed. Victor was to be trusted. He knew what was best for her. He knew what her potential was and how she should achieve it.

Victor lied to me, and made me believe it.

Victor chased the demons away. He made her feel secure and confident. He gave her purpose in life, and taught her how she was supposed to behave.

Victor lied to me.

But most of all, he taught her how to be happy; how to revel in her own sexuality; how to enjoy the simple pleasure of obedience; how to properly present herself; how to give others pleasure.

VICTOR LIED.

Gina blinked once, the only outward sign that something had shifted in the lowest levels of her mind. Victor's avatar noticed the very faint emotional lurch, searched Gina's psyche, and found nothing amiss. It did not alert Victor.

Cassie paused when she was poised to lower her pussy towards Diane's face, despite panting hard in desperate sexual want. She had not reconsidered Diane's plight; she was eager to use their slave as she saw fit. Yet it would not chase away the uneasy feeling that she was fulfilling a role that, in any other context, her mother would approve.

Cassie had rarely drawn admonishment from her mother in the middle of a function as she had at the luncheon. She had never before had such trouble maintaining the good little rich girl persona. Her one stumble had put her life into a fresh perspective.

Cassie wanted to be an "ordinary girl." She wanted to wear jeans and sneakers. She wanted to go where she wished without Harry tagging along. She wanted to do things without worrying if her hair would be mussed, her clothing would be soiled, or Harry would walk in on her.

Her epiphany spanned the space of a few seconds, a hesitation that left her shaking. Need overcame introspection, and she thrust her pussy at Diane's face. Diane began licking in earnest the moment her tongue touched Cassie's pussy. Cassie shuddered and let out a loud moan, closing her eyes and panting.

Cassie envied the other Harbingers, even Ned with his dysfunctional family. He could distance himself from them and be his own person. His parents didn't care, and that only helped him.

Cassie's parents cared, but about the wrong things. They cared about image. She was a face rather than a daughter. If they knew half of what she did, they would be more concerned how it would reflect on them rather than how Cassie might have been hurt.

Or they might praise her for keeping it quiet so well for so long. Why else would they have paid for (and insisted she take) birth control pills the very first year she was capable of having sex? Indiscretions were not the problem; indiscretions that other people discovered mattered.

The momentary swell of anger was consumed in rocketing pleasure. She clenched her muscles in her pussy, fighting the urge to cum early. She had not had the chance to build up energy as the others had.

She strained at the edge. She could not tolerate another second of denial. She had to let go. She ...

Everything suddenly wavered and blurred. She sensed a corridor of pale light, energy surging through it, just as in her dream. Instead of her being drawn to it, it was drawn to her. She could "see" it, like a pipe running across her vision in the distance.

We're too far from it! Cassie cried out in her dreamscape. We didn't stop to think where the line ...

Suddenly, the "pipe" burst, and light poured through the rupture. It rushed at her, a comet of line energy trailing bright sparks. Cassie gasped and tried to pull back from it, but her sense of direction failed her. It came at her from no one direction, and before she could contemplate her disorientation, it struck.

She crashed down from her dreamscape, triggering her orgasm. Her pussy throbbed so hard that her throat locked up. A shrill cry exploded from between her lips a few seconds later, her hips fighting the urge to jerk with each spasm. She tilted forward, her arms almost collapsing under her as she fell to all fours, her pussy mashed against Diane's face.

The energy rode the crest of the orgasmic wave that spread over her body and into her mind. For that fleeting moment, every one of her psychic senses came into sharp focus. In that moment she could have plucked a single thought from a single mind at will. She could experience the emotion of every Harbinger and maintain her sense of self, observing them and tweaking them as she saw fit.

When her orgasm faded, so did her new powers. She whimpered and crawled forward, breaking contact with Diane. The insight slipped away, though the energy remained. She felt it brewing with raw, undirected power, swirling like a miniature whirlpool in her psyche.

"Hold it back, babe!" Ned's voice cried at her ear, startling her. He hauled her to her feet as a panting Heather pushed the both of them aside on her way towards Diane.

"What--?" Cassie murmured, her eyes half-lidded as the euphoria of her climax was slow to lift.

"Jason said ta be careful of this. Ya gotta hold onta the energy. Don't let it go yet or it ruins the spell."

The energy? Yes, she could see it. Even without that stunning insight, she could channel it all into one large ...

"Cassie?!" Ned cried.

Cassie blinked rapidly. "Yes, I hear you. Yes! Oh goodness, Ned, it was ... I-I can't describe it, I--"

Ned grinned. "'sokay. Just hold that thought."

Cassie nodded. "Yes, I've got it. I'll hold onto it."

Victor's cellphone rang as he pulled into Roberta's driveway, Gina still in the seat next to him. He pulled it out and flipped it open with a snap of his wrist. "Yes? What now, Charles?"

"I am sorry to disturb you," said Charles. "But I must confirm just how far we are to take this with the Sovert girl."

"I believe I had already made that clear."

"You told us to break her to the cult's will."

"Very good, you do remember. Is there any point to this phone call, then?"

"Does that also mean a cultist engaging in intercourse with her?"

"Why is that even a question?" Victor said.

"Because I know how you feel about that sort of thing! She is only fourteen. To violate her in such a manner--"

"I do not wish this," said Victor in a lower voice. "I am confident that they can handle it without resorting to that. She may be able to draw strength from others, but I doubt that will hold against the combined power of the cult."

Charles did not respond.

"Charles, are you holding them back? Is that why I have sensed little progress?"

"You contacted the cult directly without going through me?"

"I did not ask a question to receive one in return."

Charles' voice became tight. "I merely informed them that they are to limit their actions to preparation and not take her. Enslaving her completely, even temporarily, would require intercourse."

"And why do you feel the need to micromanage the cult?"

"Because I fear they will take things too far!" Charles exploded. "Victor, with all due respect, you underestimate just how much the cult is devoted to you, and how much they believe all the quasi-religious trappings in which you have veiled their loyalty to you. You have made yourself into a virtual god in their eyes."

Victor let a slow breath pass through his nose. He should not feel the need to explain how religion was the perfect means of manipulation without exerting a great deal of power. Only a gentle massage of a prospective cultist's perception of him was necessary, and the human need to belong and to believe in a higher power did the rest.

It worked every time. Penelope Sovert had been one notable exception, but she had come to Victor with false intentions.

"This needs to end," Victor said. "You will let the cult act as necessary to carry out my wishes."

"Even if that means--"

Victor's voice rose. "I have stated my preferences, not hard and fast rules. I am confident that extreme measures will be unnecessary, but I refuse to hamstring the cult on the matter. Please cease disturbing me further unless it is to tell me that their task has been completed."

Victor snapped the phone shut. He turned his gaze to Gina.

"When we go into the house," said Victor in a more conversational tone. "You may remove your clothes, but leave the shoes on. Then come down to the living room."

"Yes, Master."

Victor unlocked the doors. Gina climbed out of the car and trotted towards the house. Victor emerged, but lingered by the side of the car. He experienced yet another emotion that was alien to him -- doubt -- and paused to purge it from his mind before he entered the house.

He avoided the trap into which the emotion would attempt to lead him. He would not allow himself frustration. That was for those who preferred to rail at their predicament rather than rise to the challenge. His concern should be only his goal and how to accomplish it.

He stretched out his mind and touched the small, diffuse part of himself that he had left in Diane. This shadow was less capable than a full avatar, but it told him what he wanted to know. She had engaged the other Harbingers in her perception of herself as their perfect slave.

Victor did not have enough direct control to affect Diane from a distance, but this foothold in her mind -- and, through her, into the other Harbingers as well -- would make a nice fall-back come Monday if the Harbingers continued to plague him.

Victor smiled. The doubt had been vanquished. He stepped away from the car and marched towards the front door, holding himself with the same confidence he had displayed the first day he had arrived at Roberta's doorstep to remind her of her duty to him.

Heather was the least reluctant of them all. Diane was her good little girl, her obedient pussy-licker, her property. A wicked smile played across her lips as she positioned her knees on either side, holding her steaming pussy an inch from Diane's mouth before lowering her hips and burying Diane's face in hot, wet flesh.

Heather rode Diane as if she were humping a cock. Her hips rocked in a slow, steady rhythm. She closed her eyes when she felt the energy surging from outside, even as her pleasure had only just begun to rise. Unlike Cassie, she could not see its origin, only feel its proximity and its tantalizing tendrils of power reaching towards her.

Images of Melinda slid through her mind. Her baby sister was so headstrong and willful that nearly every significant memory was one of defiance or stubbornness. Melinda should not have been surprised that Heather felt the need to take her down a peg. Only in the last few months had Heather understood that her own "elevation" above her sister had come under false pretenses.

Yet how she still yearned to break that defiance! Heather loved using her power to make Melinda into her sexy sibling lover. Melinda was the strong one, not Heather. That justified breaking her now and then.

Heather moaned and leaned forward, pausing to let Diane's tongue play against her clit with eager and urgent strokes. Her powers stirred. Visions flickered at the edge of her perception, like viewing a movie through the open back door of a theater. She saw Melinda again on the bed, restrained and writhing, someone climbing atop her. It was a man, at least middle-aged if not older, his cock engorged and pulsing with obscene excitement under him.

Heather let out a short cry, and her eyes snapped open. She shook her head as if to rid her of the imagery. She did not understand her revulsion. Was it that different from other times Melinda had been controlled into sex? Was the age difference that revolting to her?

Heather's pussy clenched, unable to hold back any longer. The energy poured into her, and the link lit up in her mind like ethereal fireflies, each flicker of light an individual mind of her fellow Harbingers. She could gather them up and share her visions with them, allowing them to live her visions as she did.

Heather's mouth opened, her eyes widening in shock. For a few astonishing seconds, she thought she could call up a vision at will by simply opening her senses to any future point in time and space.

A shrill cry escaped her lips. Her pussy gushed over Diane's face, her body shuddering with the force of her orgasm. The energy surged over and through her. She wanted to hold on, to project herself an hour into the future, two hours, a day, Monday, a week ...

Heather gasped and fell forward, collapsing to the floor. She panted into the carpet as her pussy continued to throb for another minute. She whimpered as the incredible focus of her power receded, and with it her extraordinary new abilities. She could still feel the energy inside her, whirling and seething, but it was not for her.

She rose to all fours and crawled away, turning over on her back and struggling to sit up as Jason advanced on Diane. Ned and Richie stood off to the side, watching, their cocks so engorged that their distress was evident on their faces.

A cultist dropped out of the chant and raised his hand. The other five stopped and stood still. Between them, Melinda let out a single long moan and went limp, panting hard. She squirmed, her pussy aching and swollen. Her need was still powerful, but its sheer weight and oppressiveness had eased.

The first cultist gestured to the one across from him. Both turned and stepped a short distance away from the bed.

"You feel it?" said the first.

The second nodded. "The touch of the Glorious One."

"He is not pleased with our lack of progress."

"No, not at all."

"We must break her," said the first. "It is His will."

"We speak the Holy Words, but she resists," said the second. "She has an evil spirit within her, one that is assisting her."

"We must overwhelm it," said the first. He paused, motionless save for the slow rise and fall of his chest. "We must use the Oil."

The second hesitated and glanced to the side. He ducked his head and leaned towards his comrade, his voice guarded. "The Prophet Charles will not approve."

"But it is the will of the Glorious One that we must obey."

"I did not sense he wished us to use--"

"He does not tell us step by step how to accomplish His goals," said the first in irritation. "He expects us to think for ourselves to achieve His holy purpose. Did he not imbue us with his holy powers so we may do his work? So we may enslave others to His cause?"

The second bowed his head and folded his hands before him as if in prayer. "Forgive my doubt, my friend."

"It is forgiven. Now, get the Oil."

"And the Prophet Charles?"

"Do not concern him with it," said the first. "We know the true path. He will come to understand His will when he sees what we have wrought."

The two bowed to one another. The second turned and headed away. The first returned to the others and gestured, and the chant once more rose above Melinda's writhing form.

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