Seeger hesitated in the hallway just outside the door to his office. He considered waving this one off by letting a faculty assistant hand the young lady a generic reprimand. He never did like having to deal with any matters remotely sexual when it came to the students, and even more so in light of recent events. Had he not been in a faculty meeting which had bored him to the point of tears, he would not have jumped at the chance to deal with a student disciplinary matter.

Seeger took a deep breath, drew himself up straight, and set his face to his standard student-intimidating scowl before he opened the door. It lasted all of two seconds, the time it took to identify the student.

Seeger's fingers tightened around the door knob. His eyebrows knit into a worried line before he advanced into the office, closing the door softly behind him. Heather looked up and gave him a forlorn look but said not a word. She squirmed once and was still.

Seeing her looking so vulnerable reminded him of the day in the parking lot when Richie had assaulted Brad, claiming he had harassed Heather. Heather had appeared unmolested save for a large wet stain on the crotch of her jeans bearing an odor that Seeger was not too old to remember.

Seeger sat behind his desk and folded his hands, lacing the fingers together tightly. The standard opening line he would use with wayward students seemed horribly out-of-place.

"Well," Seeger said. He paused and let out a sigh when no other words would come to him. He wiped his face with his hand and sighed. "My apologies, Miss Sovert, but such things are terribly awkward for me in the best of times."

Heather did nothing more than nod and shift in her seat.

Seeger had hoped it would prompt a response and spare him the need to initiate the conversation. He was at a loss for words until he finally abandoned the idea that this was anything like a normal faculty-to-student meeting. "All right, Miss Sovert," said Seeger, lacing his fingers tighter. "I am going to make a huge leap of logic and hopefully I will not find myself jumping into a yawning abyss. Does this ... infraction you are accused of have anything to do with Principal Bendon?"

Heather gave him a surprised look. "I'm sorry?"

Seeger felt himself falling into that very abyss until he noticed how husky her voice sounded. As he watched, her hips gyrated and her legs parted. She let out a slow breath like a soft sigh. "Jason told me of your ... arrangement ... with Ms. Bendon."

Heather stared. "My ...? Oh."

"But I need to confirm it if I am to overlook this incident. I would ask that you do not make me say it."

Heather hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, I'm her sex slave."

Seeger let out a long sigh. He lifted his laced hands to his chin, then let them drop to the desk with a thud. "Unconscionable," he murmured through clenched teeth. "I take it she was the cause of this incident?"

"Yes, you could say that, Mr. Seeger," said Heather. "I'm being punished."

"Punished," Seeger said in a flat voice.

"Yes, for being a bad girl."

"A bad ...?" Seeger trailed off.

"Mistress needs me to be a good girl for her. I didn't obey her properly so now--"

Seeger slapped the palms of his hands on the desk and bolted out of his chair. "Enough!"

Heather flinched. "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Seeger, I'm just telling you what--"

"I am not angry at you, Miss Sovert, not in the least," said Seeger as he paced. "If anything, you have my utmost sympathy for the situation you are in. I trust this was not by your own choice."

Heather shook her head. She uttered another husky sigh and rocked her hips once before grasping the edges of her chair.

Seeger furrowed his brow. "Are you quite all right, Miss Sovert?"

"I'm ... i-it's just my punishment, Mr. Seeger."

"But you're not ... I don't see you ..." Seeger trailed off. He took a deep breath. "I pursue this against my better judgment, but ... are you ... are you being stimulated in some fashion at this moment?"

Heather bit her lower lip and nodded. Her hips rocked in a parody of sexual intercourse. Her eyes slid closed and she panted in time to her invisible lover's thrusts.

Seeger stared at the spectacle in stunned shock before his sense of chivalry overcame morbid curiosity. He averted his eyes and turned away. "Forgive me for staring, Miss Sovert," he said in a low and awkward voice.

Heather did not reply, except to continue panting.

Seeger's hands clenched into fists. "I have to stop this. I cannot let Laura do this to a student. I cannot let her do this to anyone!"

"P-please ... unhg ... Mr. S-Seeger ... don't try to ... unhg ... do anything ..."

"Are the Harbingers doing anything? Are they trying to help you out of this situation?"

"I-I ... they have ... uhnn ... bigger things to deal with ..."

Seeger sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. "You cannot imagine how much this situation frustrates me, Miss Sovert. Laura has far more influence than I do with the school board. She has all but convinced them that I am an old horse who needs to be put out to pasture." He started to turn towards her but stopped himself. "Perhaps I should wait before I attempt to converse with you any further," he said in a low voice as he took his seat, still turned away from her.

Her panting rose to a crescendo, then eased after a low, shrill whimper. "I think I'm okay now, Mr. Seeger," she said in a soft and tremulous voice.

Seeger hesitated before he turned around, steeling himself for a scene reminiscent of the one he had recalled earlier. Instead, Heather was sitting a little more comfortably, though her hips still did occasionally squirm as they had when he had first entered the room.

Seeger tilted his head. "Are you wearing something that is doing this to you?"

"Yes, Mr. Seeger. I ... I'm not really sure how it works, it just--"

Seeger waved a hand. "Yes, yes, no need for diagrams." He frowned. "Miss Sovert, I must do something about this."

Heather gave him a stricken look. "If you do that, it might make things worse." She smiled slightly. "And ... she's a good Mistress to me. She at least lets me keep my mind."

"Unlike Marcie."

Heather paused and nodded.

"God almighty," Seeger murmured. "I had always suspected as much, but--"

"Nothing can be done for her, Mr. Seeger," Heather said.

"And if I leave this, you would become like her!"

"No, Mistress prefers me like this."

"For now!"

Heather's eyes shimmered. "Mr. Seeger, it's okay, I can handle this."

"You are not even in your right mind now. Your voice sounds like you are playing out an erotic dream."

A tiny smile touched Heather's lips. "I guess I am. I enjoy being Mistress' good girl."

Seeger's stomach turned. Even as Heather spoke in breathy tones of blissful obedience, he saw a plea for help in her shimmering eyes. He had a knack for seeing the truth there, and he hoped the instinct worked here as well, or it would be just so much wishful thinking.

His hands clenched into fists, but he resisted the urge to pound them on the table in frustration. Even with everything that he had witnessed over the past two months and the trust Jason had earned, he had not wanted to believe Laura would stoop so low as to enslave a student. He had held out some hope that Jason had been mistaken.

Yet since then he had uncovered evidence which hinted at other sexual liaisons between Laura and at least a dozen boys at Haven High. The only way Laura could have left scant evidence behind is by way of mind control.

"I could stop her," Seeger said in a low, earnest voice. "I just need evidence. Something I can give to the board. Or ... something to make her resign her position. At this point, I just want her out."

Heather stared at him, and for a moment, Seeger thought he had gotten through. At the same time, he felt guilty for even suggesting it. The only viable evidence would be a picture or a video, something he could not in good conscience ask her or the Harbingers to provide.

Heather finally sighed and shook her head. "I couldn't do that. I ... I have to be her good girl."

Seeger sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"Mr. Seeger, my next class is about to start. Is it okay for me to go?"

"Ms. Hollis is recommending your suspension for this," Seeger said in a neutral voice.

"I know, she told me."

"I cannot arrange for such a thing even if I wished. All suspension requests must be approved by Laura, and I suspect it would do nothing for your situation."

Heather shook her head. "I live with her when I'm her slave."

"I thought as much." He waved a hand in dismissal. "I've decided not to suspend you or enter a reprimand into your record. Go back to class."

"Yes, Mr. Seeger." Heather stood and headed to the door. She stopped for a moment and said, "I'm sorry I couldn't help."

"No more so than me, Miss Sovert," said Seeger in a sad voice after Heather had left.

Melinda emerged from her last class of the day ready to head home. She felt quite the slutty little schoolgirl, having flashed her garters at many boys and allowed a privileged few to see her nicely shaved and wet pussy. She shivered in anticipation of Aunt Jo's hands sliding over her body and teasing her into aching need, and of the fat strap-on dildo plunging into her twat.

Yet as much as her body urged her to head for the bus, she forced herself away from the doors and headed down the hall. She thought of going to see Jason but spotted Heather still lingering at her locker, arranging books in her backpack.

Melinda sighed. She hated trying to talk to Heather while she was actively Laura's sex slave. Heather would be in a constant haze, as if she did not know where she was or what she was doing. Melinda supposed she could count herself fortunate that the trigger Aunt Jo exploited at least allowed her to think.

She took a deep breath and marched towards Heather as she forced another book into her already bulging backpack. "What the hell, Heather, you cleaning out your locker or something?"

"Mistress wants me to study for my exams every night," Heather said in that breathy voice Melinda had grown to hate. "She didn't tell me which subject she wants me to start on first." She let out a ragged sigh, and her hips swayed. "I don't want to be a bad girl again."

"Again?" Melinda narrowed her eyes as Heather panted and rocked her hips. "Wait, is that why I heard you've been acting weird in your classes all day?"

Heather's eyes shimmered, and she nodded. "Melinda, is this ... uhng ... going to take long? I have to ... uhng ... report to Mistress so we can head home."

Melinda swallowed, her pussy aching as she imagined her own hips humping Aunt Jo's strap-on. "M-maybe I shouldn't be asking you this now, but ... but I've been thinking about it all day. I--"

She paused, distracted by Heather's slow hump. Several boys lingered and glanced in her direction, lips curled into lascivious smirks. Girls frowned and wrinkled their noses as they passed, save for the occasional furtive and desirous glance. Melinda swore she heard one mutter "why should that beanpole Diane be so lucky?"

Heather moaned and lay a hand against the nearby locker, lowering her head as her hips moved faster. Her breath became a rapid pant timed to her thrusts. She shuddered, uttered a shrill whimper, and let out a long, husky sigh. She leaned against the lockers as her hips grew still.

Melinda's gaze flitted to Heather's crotch, expecting to see a dark, wet stain. The denim was bone dry. "Shit, is she not even letting you cum?!" Melinda said in an urgent whisper.

Heather turned her head. "I told you, it's a punishment," she said in a breathless voice. She drew herself up straight, paused to catch her breath, and closed her locker door. "I have to go to Mistress now. Is there something you wanted?"

"I don't think I can get out of this now," Melinda said in a shaky voice. "I-I'm going to become a sex slave whether I want to or not." She swallowed, and added in a small voice, "Aunt Jo is going to take me soon. I overheard her talking to Mom."

Heather paused, and some of the dreamy pall retreated from her eyes. "What did Mom say?"

"I didn't hear that part. Aunt Jo didn't sound happy, though. And, no, I don't think Mom's trying to protect me, so don't go there!"

"Then why are you bringing this up? I really have to go."

Melinda grabbed Heather's arm just as her sister turned away. "No, wait!" She sighed. "A-all right, I'll get to the point. I'm thinking of asking Jason to do it."

Heather frowned. "Do what?"

"Make me his slave."

Heather hesitated, and her Aura suddenly churned. "I don't ... it's ... it's not a good idea, Melinda."

"I know you told me that before, but what choice do I have?!"

"Jason's being taken directly into the Darkness. You really want that?"

Melinda shuddered. "But ... but you and the Harbingers, you're working on something to rescue Jason, right?"

"Yes, but--"

"What 'but?' If you rescue him, and I'm his slave, I'll get freed too, right?"

"Not if he makes you tell him what we're planning."

Melinda shook her head. "It's not like I really know anything yet. I've been waiting all day for Cassie to tell me. Not a single word. Ned doesn't want her telling me anything anyway, and he always gets his way with her."

Heather uttered a quavering sigh and shuddered. Her hips swayed. "I think ... there's a better option."

Melinda frowned and tilted her head. "What option?"

"Can you wait a little longer? Like until next week?"

"It might be too late by then!"

"Then ... let me ... I-I'll get back to you on this before anything happens to you, I promise."

Melinda nodded slowly. "Okay," she said in a wary voice.

Heather's lips curled into a dreamy smile. "Now I have to get going, Mistress is waiting for me."

Melinda watched her sister head towards the faculty administrative offices until her own need became too great. She uttered a soft moan and scurried towards the waiting bus in the parking lot.

Jason admitted to feeling eager as he headed to the Inn, and not just in anticipation of enjoying his two slaves. He wondered what they would teach him that day.

Jason thought Richie's protests so much childish whining. He was still of his own mind. He could make his own decisions. Going to the Inn was no longer a required duty. He wanted to go, if for no other reason than to see if they would ever actually manipulate his mind. He felt in a quandary whenever he looked at himself in the mirror. He could very clearly see his own Aura, yet he never felt more in control in his life.

Jason strolled into the lobby, and saw Cindy was not behind the counter. He took that as a good sign. It likely meant she was already sprawled on a bed naked, nicely wet and wanting. He wondered if he should make Cindy and Kim go at it. They were almost the same height, which would be optimal for a sixty-nine.

Stacy looked up and smiled as Jason entered her office. "So good to see you again, Jason, as always." She gestured to the chair before her desk.

Jason sat, and his eyes roamed around the edges of her thick, roiling Aura. "So what do you have for me today?"

"Before we get to that, I'd like to know if you had any insights as to what I asked you to think about."

"Well, I have, but--"

Stacy raised a hand. "Now, don't make any assumptions. Just tell me what your thoughts were."

Jason nodded. "Yes, I guess I do know someone that sort of fits the picture you painted."

"Sort of?"

"Well ... yes, she does fit that profile rather closely."

Stacy rested her chin upon her folded hands. "And who would that be?"

"Diane."

"Ah, yes, she's the girl with that rather interesting new power, isn't she?"

"Not all that new. We used it against Victor."

Stacy smiled. "Yes, all of the Harbingers used it. They kept it under careful control, didn't they?"

"Of course they did."

"Think Diane is capable of that sort of control now?"

Jason paused. "You're not saying anything that I haven't already thought of."

"Oh, I'm sure of that. You tend to be a very detailed person."

"And I'm not going to agree to go after her."

Stacy shook her head. "Jason, there you go again, you're making all the wrong assumptions. You're letting that cloud the issue and prevent you from making the right decision."

"But the 'right' decision in this case would be for me to enslave her," Jason said, ignoring the twitch of his cock.

"And have you thought about that?"

"Yes," Jason said in a low voice. "Yes, I did think that -- maybe -- she would be better off under someone's control. But that decision would have to come from me and not what the Darkness wants."

Jason let out a slow, quavering sigh. He had finally managed to point to the elephant in the room, the one thing preventing complete acceptance of Stacy's teachings, no matter how much sense they made.

Stacy leaned forward. "Tell me, Jason. How do you know when someone is working for the Darkness, as you call it?"

"The same as anyone else in the Harbingers. The Aura."

"The Aura," said Stacy. "Like the one you can see around yourself."

Jason nodded slowly. "Yes, like that."

"And the one you can see around your father."

Jason's eyes widened. "How did you know about--"

"Do you consider your father to be working for the Darkness?"

"Well ... no. To be honest, I'm not sure who he's really working for anymore."

"And how do you know he's not working for it?"

Jason hesitated, unsure if he should assume to what depth of knowledge of Harbinger abilities the Darkness possessed, yet he could find no way for this particular item to be turned against anyone. "I can see patterns in the energy. One thing it can tell me is whether someone is a follower or a leader. The one around my father is more the latter."

"What about your own?"

"I'm having trouble seeing the patterns in mine, but I don't see anything which suggests I'm just another slave."

"You're missing one key point. One thing that you and you alone can sense."

Jason looked thoughtful. "You don't mean ... that I can hear it?"

"Exactly. You can hear the Darkness speaking with its minions. Have you heard anything whispered in your ear from it lately?"

"Come to think of it, no," Jason said.

"Have you heard any such things around me?" asked Stacy. "Have you heard whispered orders, or perhaps gloating that you've fallen into its trap or something like that?"

Jason had a thought. He remembered something about the Darkness being more intelligent this time due to the energy it had absorbed from the Book. Yet it proved too slippery for him to hold, and he wondered what he had been thinking about. He turned a blind inner eye to the Dark pall into which the thought had receded.

"Jason?" Stacy said in a gentle voice, tilting her head.

"Huh? Um, no, I haven't heard anything like that."

Stacy grinned. "Unless you think it so intelligent that it could set up this elaborate ruse to trick you."

Jason shook his head. "No, it tends not to be that clever. It usually has to rely on its minions to do some of the thinking for it."

"So now we have an interesting mystery to solve," said Stacy. "Why do you have an Aura when you clearly are not some mindless, obedient slave?"

Jason looked down at himself. The tendrils of his Aura seemed constantly in motion, as if purposely foiling his attempts to see the patterns. It got harder each day, and the more he stared at it, the more featureless it became.

Stacy leaned back in her chair. "You have a scientific nature, Jason. Can you put it to use here? What other explanation could there be for the Aura?"

Jason did not have to think for very long on the matter. It was something he was forced to theorize given his father's Aura. Now he was more at ease with the idea, as it would fit within his recent observations. "That the Aura results from the power and not necessarily the ends to which it is put."

Stacy smiled. "Very good, Jason. And power is just a tool. It all depends on how you use it."

Jason slowly nodded. "And ... some people need to be taught how to use that tool properly."

"While others would prove too dangerous wielding it."

Jason was quiet for a long moment, then slowly nodded.

"So you see, no one is going to tell you to 'go after' your fellow Harbingers. You will decide how and when to use your power. All you need is time to think on it."

"Yes," Jason said at once, remembering the confrontation with his mother that morning. "Yes, I need time. If I'm going to make such huge decisions about people close to me, I have to make sure they're the right ones." He gave Stacy an earnest look. "I have to make sure I'm in the right."

"Exactly," Stacy said. She gestured towards the door. "Now, your two slaves are waiting for your attentions in the usual room. Take the rest of your time here today to enjoy them."

Jason nodded and smiled, his cock already swelling in anticipation. "Thank you, Ms. Missen. I was hoping I would have time for that today."

"Oh, I insist that you do." Stacy smiled. "Sometimes the act of sex can help clear the mind and make the answers come more easily."

Jason hoped so. He had to decide the fate of at least one Harbinger. His hold on the moral high ground had to be unshakable.

Diane watched Richie disassemble part of her bike as she went over everything he had told her. She had to parse it a bit, as Richie was not one to use precise words or remember every detail like Jason did. "Okay, let me see if I got this straight. Heather's mother and her sister had some sort of business where they investigated paranormal stuff, and this was around when everything with Stephanie happened. Have I got it right so far?"

Richie uttered a curse as he struggled to work a bolt loose. It yielded with a squeal of neglected metal. "Yeah, and they said they didn't find jack shit that anything actually happened."

"Well ... that makes sense, doesn't it? I mean, Victor could do that sort of thing, like make you think a room is empty when it's really filled with people."

Richie frowned. "I think Jo was handing Heather's mother a load of bullshit."

"I know she's bad now, but we don't really know what she was like back then."

"I'm tellin' you, Jo was covering up something. No fucking way Victor could've hidden everything. He fucked up so badly they had to pretend Stephanie was dead. Remember that?"

Diane nodded, though she recalled it only vaguely. Many of the details she had to learn after the fact, since she had spent such a big chunk of time as the Harbingers' slave. She sighed and leaned against her mother's car, wondering if it were a bad idea to entrust her with this task.

"Okay, so say you're right, and Jo was lying," Diane said. "Why would she do that?"

"Heather said she was in with Victor's cult. Why wouldn't she want to feed her sister a line?" Richie looked up from his work. "By the way, your bike's not in bad shape. Just need to grease it in a few places and replace this rusty bolt. Tires are okay for now, but you should get 'em replaced soon."

"Thanks," Diane said. "So you think Jo was in the cult back then?"

Richie rummaged through a plastic bag he had brought with him and pulled out a bolt, compared it to the rusty one, rejected it, then rummaged some more. "Makes sense to me."

"But we should try to find out for sure."

"Yeah, fine, but how the hell do we do that? Heather didn't leave me a freakin' instruction manual with the pendant."

Diane watched Richie pull out another bolt, examine it, then turn back to the bike and begin reassembling it. "Well, let's go back over it. You said Jo was the one who did the legwork to get the information she gave Heather's mother. Do you know where Jo went to get that information?"

Richie set the rear wheel of the bike in place. He retrieved a grubby, metal container from the items he had brought, the label long since too stained by grease to be legible. "Yeah," he finally said, and paused to wrench the lid from the container. "That old abandoned church, the one Victor was using."

Diane's eyes widened, and she held back the words which had formed in her head, for they were insane coming from her. The last thing she would ever want to do is go anywhere Victor had frequented.

I'm being a coward again, Diane thought. Heather is counting on me to come through for her. "Maybe we should go there and see if you get something."

Richie stared at her. "Are you nuts?"

Diane resisted the urge to agree. "I mean, it's the only lead we have. It's the only other place mentioned in the vision you had. Maybe we can catch Jo doing something that--"

"The pendant belongs to Heather's mother. I can only see what happened to her. If I want to see what Jo did, I have to have something that she had on her."

Diane sighed. "I don't have any other ideas. Maybe Heather's mother went back there later. You just told me that she thought they had missed something, that maybe she wasn't falling for Jo's version of things."

"You really want to go back to the place where Victor did his sick rites or whatever the fuck they were?"

"But Victor's gone. I mean, isn't he?"

Richie turned back to the bike and started applying some of the grease. "His cult is still around."

"But it can't as organized as it was before, and I thought they used that church only for that one ceremony on Halloween. Look, no one is more scared of going back to that place than me, but we don't have any other alternatives."

Richie continued to work on the bike as if he had not heard her or had decided to ignore her. Diane was about to assume the latter when he finally uttered a sigh and said, "Fine, we'll go to that stupid place. You want to go once I'm finished with the bike?"

Diane shook her head. "No, it's going to be too late by then. I'd never get there and back before dinner." She glanced towards the door into the house and added in a lower voice, "And don't mention anything of this around my mother. She would never let me go to a place like that."

She thought that a rather ironic statement, as there were likely a lot of places she had been since joining the Harbingers that her mother would never want her near let alone inside.

Richie closed the lid of the grease can and wiped his hands on his pants as he stood. "Your bike should be okay now. The tires should hold for a bit but you really need to replace them."

"I will, it just may have to wait until the weekend. So how about going over to the abandoned church tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we can do that. I think it's a fucking waste of time, but, whatever. I better get going. See ya tomorrow."

Diane nodded and smiled. "Thanks for the help. I mean, for everything, not just the bike."

Richie stuffed the can in the bag, grabbed the bag, and mounted his bike. "Just doing my part, that's all, like Jason told me to do." He paused, and then said in a softer voice. "Not that I don't like doing stuff for people, just ... you know what the hell I mean."

Diane didn't, but she nodded anyway. He cast a lingering glance at her before pushing himself off and speeding down the driveway. He turned down the street and disappeared around the curve.

Diane sighed. Already she wanted to call him back and tell him to forget the whole thing. She tried to tell herself it was not fear but common sense; why would Heather's mother ever want to return to that place if she had taken Jo at her word?

She turned towards the door into the house and flinched when she saw it was open. Diane's mother stepped into the garage, looking around. "Is your friend gone?"

"Yes, mother, he just finished fixing my bike," Diane said, trying not to sound relieved. God, if she had arrived just two minutes before, she might have overheard ...

Janet nodded, giving her daughter a small smile. "Glad to see you getting back to doing that. You used to love riding it on the mountain trails west of town."

Diane returned the smile, though it was weak. "Um, need help with dinner? I'm free for the rest of the day."

"Yes, I was just going to ask." Janet looked towards the open garage door. "So where were you planning on going first now that your bike is working again?"

Diane hesitated, not having expected that question. Okay, don't make worst-case assumptions . Don't assume she overheard you. "I thought I would take it around town tomorrow after school."

Janet looked at her daughter. "That's unusual for you, isn't it? You usually like to have a particular destination in mind."

"Um ... I know, but I want to get a feel for the bike again. I haven't ridden it in ages."

Janet slowly nodded. "Just be careful wherever you go. Please."

Diane's stomach twisted in knots, but she managed to retain her composure as she responded, "Of course, mother, I'm always careful."

Janet smiled, but Diane would swear it had been forced. "In that case, come inside and you can help me with dinner."

Diane followed her mother inside, wondering if her conversation had indeed been overheard, and her mother had given tacit approval. It did seem an odd coincidence that her mother just happened to enter the garage right after Richie had left.

She tried not to dwell on it; it was going to be hard enough to sleep that night knowing she was heading back to the last place she ever wanted to be again.

Jason was quite pleased. When he had first walked in on his slaves, it appeared they had already sensed his desire. While he had not found them in quite as intimate an arrangement as a sixty-nine, they had snuggled up to one another, slowly fingering each other's pussies.

They stayed that way without a word from him. He wanted to watch them as he undressed, his cock nice and stiff by the time it bobbed free of the uncomfortable confines of his briefs. He stood with his hand around his shaft, wondering which to have first. Instead, he thought of a way to have both at the same time.

He bid them to him, and they disengaged from each other and eagerly climbed off the bed. Without a word, he made his desire known. They dropped to their knees, their hands sliding slowly up his thighs and around his groin. Jason let out a sigh quavering with excitement as their fingers touched his balls.

Cindy took his cock into her mouth and slid her lips slowly down his shaft. Kim dipped her head and swirled her tongue around his balls, occasionally taking one in her mouth and sucking lightly until Jason shuddered.

Jason's cock popped from Cindy's mouth with a satisfying wet noise, and Kim swallowed it up, her head bobbing as Cindy sucked his balls. Jason closed his eyes, feeling a rush of both pleasure and confidence. He loved having such perfect control for the first time in his life. Even the House had not given him this.

His slaves squirmed as their pleasure grew, as Jason had willed their pussies to feel gently stimulated. He would not send them far, but he had no intention of depriving them of orgasm. He was not like Heather's cruel Mistress, or Melinda's heartless Aunt Jo. He cared about their pleasure; he was morally obligated to do so.

He bid them to rise, and they snuggled on either side, rubbing their breasts against him as they knew he would like. He wrapped an arm around each, pulling them close and enjoying the press of their warm bodies.

It pained him to think what might have happened had he not taken them for his own. Now both they and the ones they could have hurt were safe. If anything, Cindy and Kim had come out ahead; they would always be happy and have a purpose.

Jason dropped his hands to their asses and gave them each a single slap. They yelped and giggled, their hips swaying as they grew ever more aroused and needy. He stepped between them and to the bed. The climbed after him, and when Jason lay on his back, Cindy swiftly straddled him. Kim grasped the base of Jason's cock to position it as Cindy lowered her hips, letting out a husky sigh as he penetrated her.

Jason smiled as Cindy rode him, humping in hard, pounding beats until the bed rocked. Kim drew herself close, facing Cindy and fondling her large breasts. Cindy moaned and gasped at her escalating pleasure, as Jason saw to it that she would enjoy another girl's touch as much as his. He willed Kim to be excited as well, her tentative explorations turning bolder, until she took one of Cindy's nipples into her mouth.

Jason folded his hands under his head, panting softly as his pleasure crept upward. He did not want to rise too fast, as he could not decide which of them would receive the privilege of having him cum inside her. He let Cindy rise until her hips faltered with the strain of impending orgasm, then had her relent and Kim take her place.

So excited and desperate to cum was Cindy that she attacked Kim's breasts with a ferocious lust, sucking a nipple hard into her mouth while pinching the other one. Kim let out a gasp and tossed her head back, her hips rocking harder as if in response to her soaring pleasure.

Jason closed his eyes, and in his mind's eye he saw Diane instead of Kim humping him. Could he really do that to her? Could he make her into a slave a second time? No doubt he could make her happy and ensure no one could use the power she wielded against any of the other Harbingers.

Jason opened his eyes to force reality back upon him. Kim panted hard as she pounded her hips, eager to please her own pussy as she was to please his cock. Kim shuddered as Cindy worshiped her breasts, cupping them and tugging the nipples until Kim let out tiny whimpers of overwhelming sensual delight.

No, he couldn't do it yet. He had to be sure he was in the right. She was a friend and a fellow Harbinger. She was Heather's lover. He could not act on a whim or on anyone's suggestion. The decision had to be his.

Jason willed Cindy to return to the privileged spot, but as she was about to descend on him, he suddenly grabbed her arms. She let out as gasp as he rolled her onto her back and pinned her arms to the mattress. Her eyes shimmered in lust and need, and her thighs spread wide. Kim dutifully helped position his cock at Cindy's helpless pussy before it plunged inside, Cindy moaning and squirming with the need to cum.

"Just a little longer, and I'll let you cum," Jason said in a reassuring if breathless voice.

"Uhng ... oh, yes, Master, I know! ... Oh, please, fuck me ..." Cindy moaned.

Jason ground his hips against her, burying himself deep. She tilted her head back and whimpered, hips squirming madly. He drew back and rocked his hips hard and fast. She wrapped her legs around him, gasping in both pleasure and need.

Jason decided Cindy needed to know what pussy tasted like. Kim answered the silent summons and straddled Cindy's head. She lowered her hips and snuggled her mound against Cindy's face until Cindy licked and sucked in earnest. Kim tossed her head back and moaned, shuddering as her pussy strained as well.

He saw the many reasons the Harbingers would be so much better off with Diane's power under tight control, Diane enslaved to the point where she would use it only at the command of one who knew how to use it properly and ethically. He felt no qualms about reaping the reward of her nice tight pussy around his cock.

He had to be absolutely sure. He needed something else to convince him. Perhaps something about how she used it. Had Debby helped her retain more control over it? Or perhaps something in the way it was triggered. Could she dictate when it manifested, or did it just come over her suddenly and she had to find an outlet for it wherever she could?

Jason sensed his slaves' near frantic level of need. Kim rocked her hips hard, forcing Cindy to face-fuck her. Cindy writhed and bucked, whimpering. He closed his eyes and slammed into Cindy, his pleasure soaring up and over the edge. She uttered a muffled squeal, her pussy squeezing hard around his throbbing cock. Kim alternately gasped and moaned, her body trembling in the throes of shared orgasm.

Panting, Jason slowly withdrew. He lay on his back, and his still throbbing slaves swarmed to him, licking his cock and balls clean.

Jason smiled. "Thank you, slaves, that was very nice."

"I only want to please, Master," Kim said as she fondled his balls.

"I love being fucked by you, Master," Cindy said as she caressed his flagging cock.

Jason nudged them back and got out of bed. "Unfortunately, I have to get going now."

"Did we please you, Master?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, were we good girls for you, Master?" Kim asked.

Jason gathered his clothes. "Yes, you were both very good. And you gave me something to think about as well."

"When will you be back, Master?" Cindy asked.

"Can you cum inside me next time, Master?" Kim asked.

Jason grinned. "Tomorrow, and yes."

Both girls beamed at him.

Jason dressed, bid them goodbye with one last stroke of his fingers against their pussies, and headed towards the lobby.

Debby let out a tired sigh as she turned the corner and headed down the street towards her house, the first time she had seen it since she had departed just after dawn. Jars rattled in one of the half-dozen shopping bags in the back. The car rumbled over a pothole, and steel cookware jangled.

Her fingers curled tighter around the steering wheel. She was not sure what made her more nervous, the daunting task of mixing the potion or Bill's reaction when he saw how much she had spent in both goods and gasoline.

When she had looked at the potion ingredients and the means by which they needed to be prepared, she had realized she was woefully lacking in the proper utensils. She had not tried her hand at potion-making for years. The last had been five years ago when she brewed a digestive tonic that was the only thing which stopped Susan from vomiting as she recovered from a nasty stomach virus.

She had wracked her brains all day to come up with a suitable explanation as to what she was doing. She would have to usurp half of Bill's workroom in the basement, as it was the only safe place to put the oil burner. She finally decided to tell him she was working on a ritual which would aid in protecting the Harbingers when they could no longer use the guest room. She gambled he would accept the inconvenience in exchange for her compliance.

Debby sighed when she saw Cassie's limo parked outside. She had forgotten they were going to deliver the journal to her. She hoped they had not had to wait too long. She pulled her car into the garage and was about to head inside when she saw Ned and Cassie climbing out of the limo.

"Cassie, isn't Susan home?" Debby asked with some alarm.

"Yes, Mrs. Radson, she is," Cassie said in an uncertain voice. "She, um ..."

"She preferred we cool our heels out here," Ned said in a flat voice.

Debby shook her head. "I'm terribly sorry about that."

Ned shrugged, and Cassie gave her an uneasy smile. "It's okay, we didn't really mind."

"It's not okay, not for you and certainly not for her. I fear that the lack of someone to blame for what happened is making her lash out at anyone associated with it."

"Please, we don't want to get her into any trouble," Cassie said. She glanced back at the limo. "We can give you the journal out here if Ned can be clandestine about it."

"No, I insist you come inside," Debby said. She realized she was already late in starting dinner, but this was too important. This was for Bill's sake as well, as he had wormed out of her that she had yet to tell the Harbingers that they would have to find someplace else.

Debby led her charges into the house. Susan was seated on the sofa, her eyes closed, her head bobbing back and forth. Slim wires snaked from earphones to a small MP3 player. She stopped as the others approached, opening her eyes and tugging the earphone from her ears. "Wow, you're late, Mom," Susan said with no small amount of disdain.

"I had a lot of errands to run today, Susan," Debby said in a tired voice.

"Dad's going to be pissed if you're late with dinner," Susan said, though to her mother it sounded more like she was the one who would be upset. Susan looked past her mother and narrowed her eyes on Cassie and Ned. "Company for dinner again?"

"No, I just need to talk to them for a few moments. Alone, please."

Susan rolled her eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh as she stood. "Fine," she said in a curt voice as she headed towards the stairs. "Maybe one day I'll know what the hell actually goes on in my own house."

She bounded up the stairs two at a time, and Debby had to hold her tongue. Susan disappeared into a hallway, and the slam of a door made Cassie flinch.

"Oh dear," Cassie said in a low voice.

Debby gave them a sad look, and almost told them right then. Instead, Ned interrupted the silence. "So how goes it in the potion-makin' bizness?" He dropped his book bag to the floor and extracted a manila folder. "An' here be Lizzie's journal."

"I think I got everything I needed today," Debby said. She accepted the folder. "And thank you for this."

"How long do you think it will take you to produce this potion, Mrs. Radson?" Cassie asked.

"It's very hard for me to say, I'm sorry. I have to spend at least a day just preparing the ingredients. It may not be until Wednesday when I can start the potion itself, and then I may do a sort of trial run with everything but the powdered leaf, just to make sure I can generate the right balance and consistency. The journal will be a big help."

"Just work at your own pace, please," Cassie said.

"Yeah, we got only one shot at this," Ned said. "Um, no pressure or nothin'."

"Believe me, Ned, it's no more than the pressure I have already placed upon myself." Debby gave them a forlorn look. "I hesitate to ask, but ... how was Jason today?"

"Worse, unfortunately," Cassie said in a miserable voice. "His Aura is so dark now, and ... and he said he has two slaves already."

Debby's eyes widened. "Fellow students? Not ... not anyone in ..."

"Nah, no one in the Harbingers," said Ned. "Figgered ya woulda noticed that if it had happened."

"I can barely sense Melinda and Richie anymore when they're home, and Heather fades in and out."

"They're all okay, at least where Jason is concerned," said Cassie. "What's really frightening is that they're convincing him that this is all coming from within himself."

Ned frowned. "Yeah, and that he's only doin' it fer the greater good. So how many of history's sparklin' personalities have used that line?"

"Does it look like he's going to move against any of you soon?" Debby asked in an anxious voice.

"It's hard to tell," Cassie said. She glanced at Ned. "But ... but we think it might be Diane."

Debby sighed and sank into the sofa. "I was afraid of that."

"Mebbe if she keeps takin' lessons with ya, she can use her power ta defend herself at least."

"Or she'll be protected a little more just coming back and forth from your house," added Cassie. "If she can keep that up for ..."

When Cassie trailed off and grew melancholy and still, Debby knew the emotional cat was already out of the bag. Ned glanced between them and sighed. "Aw, shit, what happened now? Damn, that should be our motto."

"I should have told you yesterday, but where everyone was so excited about cracking the code ..." Debby took a deep breath. "Bill has asked that this house no longer play host to Harbinger sexual activities."

"Aw, shit, yer kiddin' me!" Ned cried.

"Ned, please!" Cassie said in an urgent voice.

"You have until the end of next week," Debby said in a quavering voice. "He wanted it to stop right away and I managed to get that concession from him."

"Some freakin' concession," Ned muttered. "An' I'm not takin' it out on Mrs. R., babe, since I'm sure she don't like this neither, but let me be pissed off at the situation."

"You're right, I don't like this," declared Debby. "I tried very hard to convince him otherwise. I love the man dearly, but he has trouble accepting things he can't touch for himself."

"But we can still use it for the next two weeks?" Cassie asked. "I really don't like imposing, Mrs. Radson, but I'm assuming that I'm going to need to build up a lot of energy before trying to rescue Jason."

Debby's heart ached at the quaver in Cassie's voice. "Yes, that's why I fought for at least that much time."

"Hope it don't take longer than that or we're shit outta luck," Ned muttered.

Debby gave them a somber look. "With as fast as Jason is declining, I would be surprised if we had even a week."

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