Cassie is at first relieved that her nocturnal directives have been heeded as she passes through the veil surrounding her mother's mind, but it is short-lived when she is confronted with the gray void. She does not understand how she was diverted. She wills herself into her mother's dreams again, but the gray pall remains.

Cassie stares into the disorienting gray fog, her heart pounding in trepidation. She feels she is no longer in control of her Dream Gift. She is about to withdraw to better examine the problem until she hears a sound in the distance.

She steps away from the veil, and the gray envelops her, making it impossible to orient herself. She hears it again, like someone moaning. She tries to sense the emotion behind it and fails.

As she drifts towards the sound, it is joined by another. Interspersed with the low, soft moans are breathy sighs and panting. Vague shapes appear in the distance, and she opens her empathic sense but still feels nothing. Ahead, something shimmers, like a thin membrane. It resists when she touches it, as if protecting this memory from being witnessed.

Cassie presses forward, and it suddenly yields. A scene explodes into existence in an overwhelming flood of sight, sound, and emotion. She staggers back as she sees a naked woman on her back, her body rocking to the hard and fast thrusts of her partner. Waves of lust and desire crash through Cassie's senses, delaying her realization of the identity of the two ardent lovers.

"Oh my goodness," Cassie murmurs in a shaky voice as she looks away from her parents.

With her empathic sense open, the absence of the visual does nothing to lessen either the intensity of their lovemaking or her embarrassment. She swallows and turns her shimmering gaze to the scene.

Dorothy is panting hard, her breasts bouncing from the force of Robert's thrusts. Her fingers curl into his sides until nails dig into hard muscle. Robert lets out a husky sigh as if in response, and his hips slam faster against his wife's compliant body.

Cassie raises a shaking hand to her forehead. "I shouldn't be looking at this," she murmurs, but she is unable to leave. Every one of her mother's memories had held clues to her past, and she gambles this is no different. She does not want to retreat for fear of missing something.

Dorothy suddenly gasps and tilts her head back. "R-Robert ... wait ... I'm not ... I haven't ... UHHNNG!"

Her back arches, and her hips jerk out of rhythm with his thrusts. Cassie yelps as her own pussy twitches faintly in time to Dorothy's, and her hips sway in echo of her mother's orgasm. Under the intensity of pleasure, Cassie senses a growing despair, struggling against the overwhelming tide of sexual delight.

By the time Dorothy can vocalize again, Robert shudders and groans, burying himself deep inside his wife, oblivious to Dorothy's squirming distress as she tries to pull away. She finally surrenders and goes limp, her head lolling to one side, and lets out a ragged sigh.

Panting, Robert withdraws, and Cassie looks away for a moment. He drops to his side, rattling the bed frame. "My God, Dorothy, that was wonderful," he gushes, and for a moment Cassie is hopeful of a "happy ending" to this scene. Yet as her mother's orgasm fades, Cassie feels a sickening sense of fear and despair, until tears stream down Dorothy's face.

"Oh my," Robert murmurs, his eyes glistening. He gathers the sobbing Dorothy to him and lets her cry on his shoulder. "Dorothy, shhh, it's okay."

"N-no it isn't," Dorothy croaks through the tears. "Oh God, I'm sorry ... I don't know how it happened ... wh-why I didn't tell you ..."

"Tell me what, dear? What has you so upset?"

"B-birth ... birth c-control pills ... I didn't take them th-this month ..."

Cassie lets out a small gasp. Robert pauses, then utters a heartfelt sigh and hugs Dorothy. "It's all right."

"No, it isn't!" Dorothy screams. "We had agreed we only wanted one child! Just one!"

"Dorothy, calm down," Robert says in a firm voice. "Calm. Down."

Dorothy swallows and lets out a shaky sigh. "I'm not sure what happened ... I just ... I don't want to blame her again ..."

Cassie's eyes widen, her heart pounding.

Robert closes his eyes. "What happened?" he asks in a neutral voice.

"She ... she said it only in passing. Or at least that's what I thought it was. Something about wanting a little brother or sister."

"And when was this?"

"Three weeks ago. R-right when I was supposed to start the next month's worth of pills after my period."

Robert nods, then wipes his face with his hand.

"I swear she was alone!" Dorothy cries. "I mean ... her friend can't be real, but she thinks it is, and that's when things happen."

Roberts says nothing and drops his hand to his side. He stares up as if intent on some spot on the ceiling.

"We have to stop this," Dorothy says. "I know you wanted to back off and let it resolve itself, but it's going too far. She has to be told to s-send him away."

"Send away someone that may or may not exist," Robert intones in a flat voice. "And if she doesn't? Or she claims he won't leave?"

"You're not listening, Robert! As long as she believes she has influence over him, it doesn't matter if he's real or not. He'll leave and all this will stop."

Robert remains silent, and it is all Cassie can do not to shout at him to say something.

Dorothy pulls herself from Robert's arms and sits up. "We've put up with this long enough. I know what you want to happen. To be honest, I'm sorry you ever decided to take up this cause."

Robert rubs his face with his hands. "I don't want to go into that now."

"No, go into it!" Cassie shouts. "What cause? What does it have to do with me?!"

"I want this to end," Dorothy says in a small voice. "I want Cassandra to have a normal life. I want you to stop--"

"No matter what we do about Cassandra, I cannot stop," Robert declares. "I will not go into the reasons yet again."

"Robert, you're playing with fire! You're dealing with something you don't fully understand!"

Cassie staggers as the bottom drops out of her world view.

Robert sits up and gives his wife a stern look. "Dorothy, I know full well what I am dealing with. You do not even know a fraction of the contacts I have in Washington."

Cassie blinks. "Wait, what? What does that have to do with--"

"And as such, I am well aware of what will happen if they get their grubby fingers in this particular pie. I don't know who is better qualified or in a better position to prevent that disaster than me. I could not live with myself if I backed down now."

Cassie's eyes shimmer. She has no idea what her father is talking about, but she feels a sudden swell of pride for him. She never knew him to be an activist about anything.

"Jason's father," Cassie whispers. "Could it have something to do with him?"

"But we will not use Cassandra to--!" Dorothy declares.

"We have not used her for anything," Robert counters. "We have let her develop her abilities on her own. Now, that part I will admit I do not fully understand. I had hoped something would come of it, but ..." He pauses and heaves a sigh. "But it appears it is far more trouble than it is worth."

Dorothy utters a gushing sigh of relief and grasps Robert's arm. "Then I can tell her she has to send him away?"

Robert pauses, then nods. "I feel very much the fool."

"What about the doll house? Can we get rid of it?"

Cassie flinches as if struck. Despite having not remembered she ever possessed it until a week ago, she feels removing it would be like ripping out part of her heart.

"I don't think we can, not considering its nature," says Robert. "But she's growing up. It won't be long before she hits puberty. She's already starting to lose interest in the playroom in general. It will likely be abandoned and forgotten."

Dorothy sighs and leans into her husband, laying her head on his shoulder. "I hope you're right, Robert," she says in a quavering voice.

Robert wraps an arm around her. "Try to remember that Cassandra is a good girl. She has never harmed anyone. The big disaster you were convinced would happen never did."

Cassie lets out a relieved sigh. While she still wishes she knew all the details, hearing that has taken a huge burden from her shoulders. She can stop thinking she had been a monster in curls.

Dorothy nods and sniffles. "Yes, I know. I'm thankful for that every day."

Robert smiles and draws her down. "Let's snuggle for a bit before we try to get some sleep."

The scene begins to dissolve. The gray void settles in like a thick fog, and within seconds the scene is gone. Cassie feels a tug, a chill, and she is outside the veil, trying to understand everything she has seen and heard. She turns away and closes her eyes, letting herself drift back into her own head.

Cassie sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. Outside her window, twilight gave way to the coming dawn, the skies crystal clear over Haven. She pulled the covers back and swung her legs over the side. As she went over everything in her head, her father's statement that she had never done anyone any real harm seemed less comforting. The memory had all but proven she had wielded some sort of rudimentary mind control power. Whether or not she used it for ill was irrelevant; the fact that she had acquired it from somewhere frightened her beyond words.

Cassie stepped into the bathroom and stood at the threshold. She remembered the vision of herself experiencing her first orgasm. She remembered the empty chair from her vision the night before.

"Who are you?" Cassie asked the empty air. "And where did you go?"

She gasped and whirled around when she heard faint footsteps, her heart pounding. She sighed and leaned against the door frame when she realized it was one of the servants passing in the hallway.

She wrapped her arms around herself. She had felt a distinct presence in both incidents, and she thought she had felt it again the night before just as she was falling asleep after her vision. She reached out with her empathic sense, but she could just barely sense her parents and the occasional servant. She had to have proximity for it to work with anyone other than the other Harbingers.

Again, she thought of visiting the playroom and the doll house. After a full minute of internal debate, she again rejected the idea. She wondered how long it would be before the urge would become too great for her to ignore.

"What the hell, he has to go to that stupid place on the weekend as well?" Jason heard his father's irritated voice from downstairs.

"The Inn doesn't close on weekends, Henry," replied Audrey in her usual voice of sultry calm. "Nor does the hospital, as you have pointed out on the many occasions you worked there on weekends as well."

"Stop comparing apples and oranges, Audrey. I have chores for him to do around the house."

"The same ones he didn't do when you let him go out to see his troublemaker friends?"

"Don't start on that again. Who is supposed to help me put up the Christmas lights when you won't set foot on the ladder?"

"If you had done it over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend -- like all our neighbors did, I might add -- then you would not be in this situation," Audrey said in a voice of haughty disdain with a sultry undertone, as if everything were spoken from a low state of sexual arousal.

Jason heard his father sigh. "Certainly they don't intend to keep him there all day."

"He'll likely be home by early afternoon."

A pause. "And just how the hell do you know that?" Henry said. "Have you been talking to the Inn?"

"No, I haven't. I just ... I just have an intuition for these things I guess." A dramatic sigh. "Oh, that's right, I forgot. You think I'm not really me."

Jason turned away from his bedroom door. He glanced at the clock as it crept towards eight-thirty. He had not bothered to call Richie the night before, as he had felt it was a moot point. Richie had already screwed up the plan by letting Jason deduce it; it was not for Jason to help him fix it.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He could not think about the Harbingers without considering all their faults as well. He could not think of Richie without remembering how he had given himself willingly to Nyssa. How could one person be so stupid? How did Jason know that Richie still didn't lust for power, considering that he once made one of his teachers into a sex slave? Perhaps it would be easier if Jason had complete control over him, to protect him from himself if nothing else.

Jason closed his eyes and shook his head. He was facing the same thing he had with Mara's test. He had rejected the power then and needed to do the same now.

But was it the same? Had he taken the power, it would have been without cause other than his own gratification. While perhaps Heather might have deserved it, he had not yet come to know the others. Now he could make a decision based on what he had learned since then.

Certainly, if anyone were deserving, it was Heather. He remembered the way she used to tease him mercilessly before they had discovered the House, how she had engendered both hatred and lust at the same time and left him with many an embarrassing erection that would not go away completely until he had time to himself.

One day she had cornered him in the parking lot of the school. He had become so hard that he held his book bag before him to hide the bulge. Heather had pressed the book bag against him and moved it slowly up and down. It had been for only a few moments, but as flustered and nervous as Jason had been, it had been enough to stimulate him. His erection would not abate, and every movement stimulated him a little more. In the middle of his first class, he orgasmed and had to walk around with sticky briefs all day.

Dammit, that was a long time ago, Jason chided himself. She doesn't do shit like that anymore.

But had she really stopped? Had she not used her burgeoning powers to trap him and anyone else she pleased into sex with her regardless of their established relationships? She claimed it was to fuel her new psychic abilities, but ...

Jason clenched his teeth and looked at the clock. "The debate is useless," he declared. "I still don't intend to do that to them."

"Do what to whom?"

Jason flinched as he turned his gaze towards his father who stood in the doorway. "Doesn't anyone freaking knock around here anymore?" Jason muttered. "Never mind, I need to get going."

Henry did not move from the door. "What time do you have to be there by?"

"Nine."

Henry craned his neck and looked at the clock. "You've got time. Only takes you about ten minutes by bike to get over there."

"So what the hell do you want from me now?"

Henry folded his arms. "I definitely don't like what this job is doing to you if you have that kind of attitude. Regardless of your feelings towards me, I'm still your father, and I expect you to speak to me with a civil tongue."

Jason took a deep breath and let it go, though it did little to calm him. "You have to admit, I think I have a right to be upset when you keep not helping."

"And being home more often in the mornings and evenings is not helping?"

"If you think about it, that's something you should have been doing all along."

Henry paused, then nodded. "All right, I'll concede on that point now and for all time. I need to choose my battles anyway."

Jason wanted to retort by demanding why his father saw everything as a battle, but he could see the truth in his father's statement. He realized he needed to get over his instant hostility towards his father, as it was pointless now. "I shouldn't be so snappish, I'm sorry," Jason said in a more contrite, if still somewhat curt, voice. "Thank you for being home more often. At least you can keep an eye on us."

Henry nodded and glanced down the hallway. He stepped into Jason's room and shut the door. "I have to ask you something, and I want the truth. I'm not looking for blame, and I'm not asking this for some experimental piece of data as I'm sure you'll assume anyway."

"I'll answer already," Jason said in a slightly exasperated voice. "What is it?"

Henry paused. "Whatever they're doing to you at the Inn ... is it supposed to lead to ... could it lead to you having sex with Audrey?"

Jason was too stunned by the bluntness of the question to answer at first. "It's not the primary focus of what they're doing," he replied in a subdued voice. "Their purpose is to make me dominate and control my friends."

"And have you?"

Jason shook his head. "But the idea is not without its merits."

Henry looked taken aback, and for the first time Jason saw genuine fear in his eyes, though fleeting. "You want to dominate people?"

"Yes. Sometimes it's the only way to stop someone from continuing to do something bad."

"I see. And Audrey?"

"I don't feel that way towards her yet. Like I said, I don't think that was the intent, but it could lead to that. And ... Mom's not helping."

"I know."

"No, I don't think you do. She's trying to egg me into taking control of her by claiming she's been bad towards me."

"And you've resisted that?"

"So far." Jason felt he was only delaying the inevitable. Once he fell far enough, he would not care. Or worse, it would seem like a wonderful idea, especially now that he realized that taking total control was a viable means to avoid the trauma of knowing one was being controlled or had been controlled. Surely by now, the Darkness had made her do enough things which would mortify her were she suddenly released from the Darkness' influence.

"But I don't know how much longer it will last," Jason added in a small voice, his cock twitching.

Henry's jaw clenched, and he nodded once. "If Audrey wasn't goading you, this would be easier?"

"For awhile. With exams coming up, I need time to study, so I won't have time for much else anyway."

"All right. I'll see what I can do."

Henry turned and started to open the door. Jason raced up to him and grabbed his arm. "Dad, you realize what's wrong with her, right?" he said in an urgent whisper. "That the thing at the node has her."

"I'm well aware of that, son. I wish I were allowed to confront it directly. I may still be able to. Just let me handle it, and you worry about your friends and your exams."

Jason's hand fell away in shock as his father left the room.

Maybe I do need to stop seeing him as a monster despite his Aura, Jason thought. Especially considering I'm about to become one myself.

Debby rolled off her still panting husband Bill and snuggled up to him, draping her breasts over part of his chest and arm as she knew he liked. She smiled as he brought his trembling hand to his cheek. She moved her legs so she could better enjoy the post-coital ache in her pussy.

Bill let out a ragged sigh. "That was ... you ... w-wow ..."

Debby's smiled widened. She placed a hand on his chest, spreading her fingers through his chest hair. "I know what my hubbie likes," she said in a husky voice, kissing him on the neck. "And you more than deserved it, honey, after putting up with so much."

Bill wrapped an arm around her and drew her closer. "I do have you for the whole day, don't I?"

"Of course. I made you a promise." Debby's hand drifted downward and gently cradled his balls, her voice turning sultry. "And if you give me a little while, I could be ready for more of the same."

Bill chuckled. "Wow, as much as I would love that, you have far more endurance than I do."

"Oh, you would be surprised how fast a male can recover with the right technique." She gave him a lingering kiss on the lips. "And the right partner."

Bill smiled. "I just want to spend time with you, no matter what we're doing. But, yes, I had really missed how much of a tigress you are in bed."

"I am sorry if you've felt like you've been neglected. With everything going on with the Harbingers, I simply have no more energy left at the end of the day."

Bill nodded, his smile fading slightly. "I hate to have to ask this again, but do you have any idea when this will be over?"

Debby was convinced now that Bill was applying mental filters to everything she told him about the Harbingers and the Darkness. She had impressed upon him multiple times that this was an open-ended battle with no clear ending in sight, and yet the same question came up with increasing frequency.

Debby said the same thing she told him every time. "No, honey, I'm sorry, I don't."

"I mean, this will be done by Christmas, right? Then we can get things back to normal around here."

Debby was too nonplussed to respond for a moment. "Bill ... when I say I don't know when it will end, I mean just that. I never said things would go back to normal by Christmas."

"But Susan has been doing so much better. It's like none of it had ever happened." Bill looked off into space and uttered a short chuckle. "It's so surreal that maybe it really didn't happen, and we just imagined a lot of it."

"Bill, stop."

"I mean, some of that stuff was just insane. Like out of a porno movie."

"Bill."

"Shit, and not even a decent one at that. Just a perversion of--"

"Bill!"

Bill gave Debby a stricken look. Debby glanced at his psychic aura and hugged him. He clung to her and let out a tiny sob in her ear. "S-sorry," he murmured. "I'm sorry."

Debby squeezed her eyes shut to hold back her own tears. "Shh, it's okay."

"I still h-have nightmares about it, Deb. Like I'm watching it happen all over again and can't d-do anything about it."

A tear leaked from the corner of Debby's eye and trickled down her cheek. "I should have paid more attention to you, I'm sorry. I should have realized how ... h-how traumatized by it you still were."

Bill broke off the hug and stared at her with glistening, pleading eyes. "How do you do it? You ... you experienced all that yourself. How did you bounce back from it? How do you not have the same nightmares I do?"

Debby uttered a despondent sigh and sat up. "I do have nightmares, but not the same ones as you. Instead, I see the Harbingers falling to the same forces which almost took Susan, with me unable to do anything to help."

Bill stared at her for another moment, as if expecting to hear something else. He let off a long, windy sigh and looked away, draping a hand over his eyes.

"Do you understand now why I'm doing this for them?" Debby tried not to sound chiding, but she had to make him understand. She hated taking the day which was supposed to be for them to do it, but he had left her no choice. "I don't want the same thing to happen to them that happened to Susan."

Bill sat up, slapping his hands against his thighs. "You can't be their mother, Deb."

"It's not about being a mother. That's not even enough."

"I mean, you can't look after everyone. While you're looking after them, what if something else happens to Susan?"

"It's because of Susan I'm doing this. They're fighting the very forces which almost took her. If I don't help them, and they fall, then Susan will not be safe either."

Bill looked down and shook his head. "You've told me all this before, haven't you?" he said in a despondent voice.

"Yes, but until this morning, I didn't understand why it hadn't taken," Debby said in a contrite voice. "And for that, I am deeply ashamed."

Bill curled his hands into fists. "Dammit, I wish we could move. I wish the economy wasn't such crap that I could get another construction job somewhere else."

Debby had to tread lightly. The only reasoning he had responded to was protection of their daughter. As good a man as he was, he could spare no more energy for anyone else, and he still struggled with his own skepticism concerning the supernatural. She knew he would not respond to the argument that they had to stay to help others.

She lay a hand against his shoulder. "I wouldn't want this to drive us out."

Bill gave her an earnest look. "I would gladly move away in an instant if it meant Susan would be safe."

Debby sighed. "I know. But I have no idea if these forces would follow us or not."

Bill's eyes widened. "Follow us? I thought this was supposed to be tied to the town. That's what you told me."

"Yes, but I also told you about the lines of force. If it ever found a way to travel along them, it could go anywhere and--"

Bill shook his head. "No, Debs. Don't turn this into a save-the-world scenario. What I care about is you and Susan. The rest of the world can go to hell."

"And what if the world went to hell? What kind of an environment would that be to raise Susan?"

Bill appeared about to retort, but he looked away and pounded his fists into his thighs, uttering a curse. He turned his head towards her, his expression and voice more contrite. "I'm not mad at you, just the situation."

Debby offered a sympathetic smile and draped an arm around his shoulders. He uttered a long sigh and leaned into her, resting his head on her bosom.

"And I don't even completely understand the situation," Bill said in a hollow voice. "I don't want to believe anything you're telling me. I want to just pooh-pooh it like I probably did with a lot of stuff you've told me."

Debby uttered a tiny gasp.

Bill suddenly straighted up. "No, don't take that the wrong way! I meant--"

Debby pulled him into a tight embrace, her eyes closing and leaking tears down her face. "No, it's not that ... I knew you felt that way ... I just had to hear you admit it so we're not dancing around it anymore."

Bill let out a noisy sigh and hugged her back, and she sensed understanding. Debby had always told him that she wanted to hear the bad as well as the good in their relationship. Anything held back poisoned it. "I'm sorry I can't believe this stuff like you do, but ..." Bill said before his voice choked.

"I can guess," Debby said. "You 'woke up' and saw what was happening with Susan, and it rattled your world view."

Bill broke off the hug and nodded. "Try 'shattered.' Shit, Debby, I grew up believing in stuff I could never touch. I never had anything concrete I could feel in my hands or see with my own two eyes. It was safe to believe in it. Does that make any sense?"

Debby wiped her eyes. "A world of sense, love," she said in a quavering voice. "And then you saw it for yourself."

Bill nodded slowly. "And then I don't even understand what I saw. Or maybe I don't want to."

"If it helps any, I don't want you to have to see it again. That's why I'm helping the others."

"Yes, but then we come to the other problem. Because I don't understand, I can't make the connection as to how allowing our guest bedroom to be used for illicit teen sex is going to help. My God, Debs, we could get in trouble with the law for this!"

Debby sighed. "Honey, I've explained this before--"

"Yes, yes, I know," Bill said with a frustrated sigh. "Sexual energy. I'm sorry, but it seems like the most far-fetched notion of the lot."

"Then why have you allowed it?"

Bill shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe somewhere along the line I convinced myself it would protect Susan."

"That is not far from the truth."

"I know. I'm just ... shit, I just don't have the right words."

Debby took Bill's hand. "If they had somewhere else to go, they would use it. Until that happens, I have to provide for them."

Bill squeezed her hand in return. She saw the struggle in his eyes and his psychic aura. "All right," he said in a voice of finality. "I trust you understand this and that somehow this is ... this is right for them. But we live in the real world, Debs, and no cop and no attorney and no judge is going to believe a defense about building sexual energy to fight some sort of supernatural force."

Debby gave him a stricken look. "Bill, wait, please, before you--"

"Debby, no. I believe you when you say that not providing the room could hurt them, but having someone discover what we're doing will definitely hurt us and Susan in a very tangible way that I can grasp. This has to end. No more teenage sex under this roof."

"Ch-christmas," Debby said in a choked voice.

Bill frowned. "What?"

"Let me continue until Christmas."

"Debby, I--"

"No, you had your say and now I'll have mine!" Debby cried. "Right now the Harbingers are going through a bad crisis. If I cut them off now, it could destroy them. Things are coming to a head soon. It has to be resolved in the next couple of weeks. But it can't be if you cut them off."

Bill stared at her through narrowed eyes as he always did when testing her conviction on a point of disagreement. She returned it in kind, as much as this argument was killing her inside. She had never wanted to be at odds with him and had hoped this would not come up until after they had spent an enjoyable day together.

His eyes softened. "Debby, are you thinking this through? Did what I said about the law make sense to you?"

"It makes perfect sense," said Debby. "And you haven't expressed a single thing that I haven't already thought of. I know we're playing with fire. But remember what you saw with your own two eyes concerning Susan. What's worse? That, or the law?"

Bill shook his head. "Don't make me do this again, choosing between the tangible and the intangible."

"I'm trying not to. I'm trying to compromise. A few more weeks, that's all. I'll tell them the next time I see them that they must start thinking of alternatives. But realize that at least one of them has been trying to think of something for the past month with no success."

Bill looked away for a moment and scratched his head, a sign that he was considering her point. Debby's heart pounded. She could not let him disrupt the Harbingers at a time like this. She admitted to herself that her claim of a few weeks was just a guess, but if Jason were falling as fast as Cassie had claimed, they were going to have to do something to stop it, potion or no potion.

"All right," he said to a gushing sigh of relief from Debby. "Two weeks."

"It may take a little longer than--"

"Two weeks. That's it."

Debby slowly nodded. "Two weeks, then. Thank you." She paused. "Bill, I don't like arguing with you. Can we go do something nice together and try to put this behind us?"

Bill nodded, his lips twitching into a small smile. "Feel like going out for lunch?"

Debby slowly smiled as well. "Yes, I'd like that."

Bill gave her a kiss and jumped out of bed. "Let me get a quick shower then." He dashed for the bathroom but paused at the threshold.

"Something the matter?" Debby asked, and could not help but feel a sense of rising dread.

He slowly turned around. "This ... this is going to sound really stupid ... please, don't be insulted."

"What is it?" Debby asked, though it pained her to have already guessed what it was.

"You're not ... the Harbingers, they use the room themselves. You don't ... you're not there in any capacity with them?"

Debby had guessed right, and her heart sank as she said, "No, dear, of course not."

Bill nodded and smiled. "Of course, it was a stupid question. Thank you for not getting upset over it." He disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Debby uttered a curse under her breath and punched the mattress once. She hated lying to him, but telling the truth would have shattered the tenuous peace. She hoped the other Harbingers were having better luck with their endeavors that day.

Jason slowed his bike and dismounted as he came within sight of the entrance to the Inn. He glanced behind him before he walked his bike towards the building. He had finally lost sight of Richie a few blocks back. He sighed and shook his head. Stealth was simply not one of Richie's skills. Every time Jason had spotted him, he had simply swerved down another street, as if somehow that would convince Jason he was not being followed.

He was about ten feet from the entrance when both Stacy and Cindy emerged. "Good morning, Jason, you're right on time," Stacy said.

"Right," Jason said in a neutral voice. He glanced at Cindy, who gave him a dreamy smile in return, her hips swaying as if in anticipation of hearing his orders. His cock swelled at the thought of some hot sex with her. "So what do I do with my bike?"

"Have your slave take care of it," Stacy said with a wink.

Jason nodded and smiled as Cindy surged forward. "I'll secure this for you, Master," Cindy said in a breathy voice.

"Good girl," Jason said.

"Master, will you have time to fuck your slave later?"

"I'm afraid he'll be quite busy today, Cindy," said Stacy.

Cindy let out a small sigh and gave Jason a forlorn look.

"I'm sure I'll have time other days," Jason said. "Just be a good girl for me in the meantime."

Cindy smiled and nodded. "Yes, Master, of course." She trotted away with the bike, and Jason watched her swaying ass until it disappeared around the corner of the building.

"Such a vast improvement over the way Cindy used to be," said Stacy.

"So you won't need to fire her?"

"Not at all. She's so very happy and bubbly all the time, thanks to you. Now, come to my office, we have a bit to discuss before I set you on your task."

Jason nodded and followed her inside. "What is it you're going to have me do?"

Stacy smiled. "The Inn provides more than the normal hotel services," she said as they strolled through the lobby. She paused as they passed the front desk, the girl on duty one Jason did not recognize. "But you may have already surmised that."

"So is that what I'm going to do today?" Jason asked in a bemused voice. "Provide an 'additional service' for someone?"

Stacy let him into her office and closed the door behind her. "In a word, yes," she said as she sat behind her desk.

Jason slowly sat as well. "That's it?"

Stacy turned to her computer and manipulated the mouse for a few seconds. "We have a guest in room two-oh-seven. Her name is Elena Wood. She's an internal auditor for a marketing company finishing an audit of their regional office in Haven." She paused and smiled. "She's actually from Haven originally."

Jason nodded, still looking doubtful. "Okay. Why do I need to know all this?"

"Patience, Jason. You'll learn soon enough. In fact, I'm counting on you to learn a lot more about her while you provide the, ah, service she has requested."

"How do I do that?"

"The same way you wormed every sordid little detail out of Cindy. This time it will be easier, since Elena is specifically requesting sex from you." Stacy grinned. "Well, sex in her little controlled way."

"I don't--"

"You will understand. No need to fret about it."

Jason sighed but nodded anyway. "So what do I do?"

Stacy turned away from her computer and folded her hands. "You go to her room and tell her that the Li'l Missy sent you. Then you do exactly what she tells you to do." She gave Jason a sly look. "But don't be hesitant to speak your mind if you feel the need."

"Um, okay."

"Don't worry, it will all start to make sense to you soon. Now, hurry along to her room if you would, and return to my office when everything is done. Elevator is around the corner on the left."

Jason nodded and stood. He felt like something was missing, and his mind was already trying to fill in the blanks. He knew he likely had little hope of resisting whatever new change she sought to instill in him, but he felt he at least had to try. Not knowing what they were planning left him at a disadvantage.

His heart was pounding by the time he stepped onto the second floor as he considered another possibility. Perhaps the Darkness had changed its mind about what to do with him and had now relegated him to just another slave to be prostituted to the guests. As much as the idea of becoming a mindless sex toy frightened him, it would be better than being turned against the Harbingers.

Even if some may have deserved to have a little control taken away from them.

He stood outside room 207 for another few seconds before he could bring himself to knock on the door. The door opened a crack, and a woman with a sharp, oval face and black hair drawn into a tight bun gave him an imperious look, her intense dark brown eyes narrowing. "Yes?" she said in a curt voice.

"Um, are you Elena?" Jason asked.

"That would be Ms. Wood to you," she snapped. "What do you want?"

"The Li'l Missy sent me."

Her eyes slid down his body. "A little young to be working here in that capacity, aren't you?"

"I'm fifteen," Jason said.

Whatever hope he had held out that this would somehow scare her off was dashed when her lips curled into a wicked smile. "Mmm, that would be a change of pace."

I'm curious as to why she said that, Jason thought, the idea sliding into his mind so smoothly that it was indistinguishable from his own thoughts. He supposed it could be his own, as he was searching for clues as to what he was really supposed to do. "So you don't usually ... um, get serviced by someone so young?"

Elena paused, as if considering her answer. "Usually I must take my prospects as I find them."

Yet she seems too comfortable with my youth for it to be a coincidence. "You've had boys my age before?"

Another pause. "Let's just say this brings back some memories." She disappeared from view. "Come inside and close the door behind you," she said as she retreated.

Jason pushed open the door and stepped inside. Elena was a tall, lanky woman, her body wrapped in a satin robe of deep blue. From the way it slid over her hips and ass, Jason guessed she likely had nothing on underneath.

Jason closed the door, and Elena turned on her heel to face him just short of the bed. She held her robe closed with one hand, though before it settled, he caught a glimpse of her lightly-haired delta. Her small but pert breasts were two round swellings topped with the tiny bumps of her hardened nipples.

Jason wanted to see her pussy again. He had only glimpsed it, but it was quite lovely and sexy. He was sure it would taste wonderful, and he wet his lips in anticipation. His cock swelled as he imagined the taste of her needy folds on his tongue and the musky scent of her arousal filling his nostrils.

Elena's lips curled into a wicked grin. "Come closer," she said in a sultry voice.

Jason stepped forward, his cock expanding in small bursts as it shifted position in his briefs. When he was close, she draped a hand over his crotch and squeezed the growing bulge until he shivered with delight.

"Already want my pussy, don't you?" Elena cooed. "All men do." One corner of her mouth turned upwards. "Young or old."

Is this supposed to be happening? Jason thought. Am I supposed to adore her pussy like this?

Elena withdrew her hand. She sat on the edge of the bed, and Jason felt disappointment when she arranged her robe so her pussy would remain hidden. "Take off your clothes."

Jason nodded and complied. His eyes darted towards her legs, where her hand thrust a fold of the robe between her thighs, concealing the prize. His cock emerged from his briefs, rock-hard and tingled purple with the intensity of his arousal.

Elena let out a slow, husky sigh. "Mmm, it is so nice to see such a young, toned body for a change."

"Your other prospects are not?" Jason asked, even as his breath became short in anticipation.

Elena appeared surprised, as if not expecting him to speak, let alone ask a question. Her sly smile returned seconds later, and she again bid him closer. She cradled his hard cock in her hand, drawing her fingertips along the shaft in slow, teasing strokes. "Does it matter when all you can think about is my pussy?"

Jason let out a ragged sigh and trembled. "Uhng ... y-yes, I adore your pussy ... but I really want to know."

And she really ought to tell me.

Elena hesitated, her eyes flicking to his face for a moment. "If you must know, then, no, they're not. Your average regional office director is high enough up the corporate ladder that basic fitness has long since became a low priority." Her sly smile returned, her fingers gripping his cock. "And if you think this will ever get inside my pussy, or even ..." She leaned forward and flicked her tongue against the head of his cock. "... inside my mouth ..."

Jason shivered and moaned.

" ... you are living in a fantasy world." Elena's lips twisted into a wicked grin. "And you won't care. You won't care that I won't let you inside me. You won't care that I will not make you cum. You won't care as long as you can taste my pussy."

Jason dropped to his knees. She withdrew her hand and planted the ball of her foot against his shaft, pressing it to his belly. She wriggled her toes until he squirmed in growing need.

"And you'll love whatever light touches I may give your cock if you're a good boy," Elena purred. "However I touch it. Even if it doesn't let you cum."

Jason's head was spinning. He adored her pussy more than any other, and he did not understand why until he realized that just a moment ago he would not have questioned it even that far. Now he saw that something had taken control of his mind, but he had somehow managed to push it back.

Elena withdrew her foot, leaving him panting, a single drop oozing from the tip of his cock. With a sly smile she parted her robe and spread her legs. Jason gazed upon the perfection that was Elena's pussy, the gentle swelling curves of her outer labia sculpted as if by an artist, the inner folds pink and glistening. Her clitoris was a thing of absolute beauty, and its taste upon his tongue would be better than the sweetest ambrosia.

Yet he realized that he had not thought this way five minutes ago.

"Mine is the pussy of a goddess," Elena said in a husky voice. "And you want nothing more than to worship it."

Jason crawled forward, moving slowly, as to rush was to show disrespect. He slid his hands along the insides of her thighs and heard her slow sigh of anticipation. He breathed in the heady aroma of her arousal, intoxicating his already overwhelmed senses. He dipped his head towards her sex, his eyes sliding closed as his tongue touched her clit.

He shuddered as his skin flushed hot and pleasure as good as any orgasm radiated through his being. He uttered a soft moan as he swirled his tongue slowly around her delicious clit, occasionally flicking his tongue back into his mouth so he could better savor the taste.

"Mmm, that's it," Elena purred. "Worship your goddess' pussy."

Slowly, the veil lifted. Elena was no goddess, and her pussy was no more or less than any other he had encountered. He did not break stride. He maintained the slow, teasing strokes she expected until she was ready for him to press his mouth to her folds and lick her in earnest.

He understood now that Elena had shaped his perceptions. She had some of the same power Victor had wielded. He put the remaining pieces together. She was originally from Haven and talked about how Jason "brought back memories." From this he could deduce she was a former member of Victor's cult, someone he had entrusted with a small amount of his power.

From what Elena had said, he could further deduce she was using this power in her job. She had likely made many men into her pussy-slaves, but he had to find out for sure and understand why she did it.

He had to take the moral high ground.

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