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Subject: {ASSM} Melissa's Rite 03/31 (mf mF MF ff fF fsolo teen inc oral voy mc nc toys humil magic)
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<1st attachment, "Chapter03.txt" begin>

WARNING: This is a work of erotic fiction. It contains depictions of
nudity and graphic sex.

Author: A Strange Geek
Title: Melissa's Rite
Universe: Haven
Summary: The Darkness has found a new ally in Melissa, a 15 year old
girl bent on revenge on those that have wronged her. The others must
stop her before she gains more power and takes control of them all.

Part: 3 of 31
Keywords: mf, mF, MF, ff, fF, fsolo, teen, inc, oral, voy, mc, nc,
toys, humil, magic

Copyright A Strange Geek, 2007

Feedback welcome! Please email me at astraYOURngegeek@comMINDcast.net
( lose YOUR MIND to email me )

Or to send anonymous feedback, use the form at bottom of HTML version:

http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/A_Strange_Geek/www/novels/MRite/Chapter03.html



---------------

Heather burst into the room. "For the last time, Melinda, /NO!/"

Melinda stomped over the threshold on Heather's heels as her older
sister dropped her backpack on the floor near her bed. "Why the hell
not, Heather?!" Melinda yelled, her face scrunched up in indignation.

Heather whirled around and plopped herself down on her bed with an
exasperated sigh. "I've told you several times already why! It's too
risky!"

Melinda shrugged the straps of her backpack from her shoulders and
threw it as far as her diminutive frame would allow. It bounced once
off the bed and crashed to the floor beyond it. It bumped against a
torchiere lamp, making it briefly list to one side before it swayed
back upright again.

"Yeah, nice going, runt," Heather muttered, lying back on the bed with
her legs still dangling off the side.

"Shut up!" Melinda snapped.

Heather frowned and propped herself up on her elbows behind her. "Huh?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, you bubblehead?! We're not doing
that until we can figure out a way to make it safe!"

Heather looked at her sister in confusion for a moment, then rolled her
eyes. "I don't mean /that/."

Some of Melinda's anger faded from her eyes. "You better not be," she
said, her voice still sharp. "I've told you a million times that I
don't want to get pregnant, so I don't take him inside me. As much as I
want to, dammit, I don't."

"All right, I get the picture. Anyway, I'm not worried about that,
runt. I'm worried about Mom and Dad."

"They're not even here!"

"But we don't know if they'll decide to return at any time. Not after
Dad decided to work from home." Heather frowned. "And you can bet Mom
made him decide that!"

Melinda shuddered. The thing she hated the most about the incident with
Nyssa was the revelation that her mother had fallen too deeply into the
Darkness to be trusted. It was obvious that Penny was influencing her
husband David to simply not notice anything that was happening. Now she
had managed to persuade him to change his work routine in a major way,
even to the point of accepting the expense of a broadband connection,
something she had always maintained they simply did not need.

"So, no, Melinda, you can't have your little fuck session with him
after the meeting."

Melinda's anger was promptly rekindled. "Fine! If you won't let us have
the bedroom, we'll just do it in the living room. Or the basement."

"No way, Melinda!" Heather said, springing to her feet. "I'm not
letting you two do it anywhere in this house."

"You're being so totally unfair about this!"

"I'm thinking of your safety, that's all!"

"Jason thinks it's okay, why don't you?"

Heather rolled her eyes again. "Oh come on, runt. You have him so
wrapped around your little finger he'd jump out the window if you just
bat your eyes at him and whine enough."

Melinda blushed. "/I do not!/" she screeched.

"It doesn't matter. He's not the one deciding this, I am."

Melinda clenched her hands into fists. "The hell you are!"

"Melinda, I'm warning you, don't defy me on this ..."

"Or what?! What are you going to do? Run to Mom? Run to Dad? Face it,
we can do anything the hell we want as long as it doesn't involve the
Harbingers."

Heather sighed and covered her eyes with her hand. "Melinda ..."

"This is not fair, Heather," Melinda whined, her eyes glistening. "Come
on, /please/ ... I haven't had sex with him in days ..."

Heather snorted. "Big fucking deal. I haven't done it since Nyssa
left."

Melinda looked shocked. "What??"

"Yeah, that's right, runt," Heather said, her voice quavering as she
folded her arms, trying to look defiant. "Nothing for two weeks. So
forgive me if I don't have any sympathy for ..."

"And you're going to stop me and Jason /just because you're not getting
any?!/"

"That's not true! That is not the reason I'm doing this!"

Melinda's eyes widened. "Yes it is! Yes it is! You little fink!"

"I said it's not true!"

"/Then why are you blushing?!/"

Heather opened her mouth and paused a long moment, shifting her weight
from one foot to the other. Her arms tightened around herself and she
took in a deep breath. "I'm ... I'm not ..." she said in a weak voice.

"Yes, you are! Come on, fess up, Heather! You're the one that liked to
be horizontal all the time with Brad the Wonder Chimp."

"What, you think I'm going to just fall into bed with anyone?" Heather
said indignantly, though her voice was rapidly losing its conviction.
Her eyes were fixed on Melinda, growing dark and sultry. "I'm not like
that, Melinda. I have to have some feelings for someone first."

"And I don't for Jason? Come on, you know ... you ..."

Melinda trailed off. Her lips parted slightly.

"What?" Heather asked.

"Stop it!"

"Stop what?"

"You're doing it again. /Again!/"

Heather tried to open her mouth again to voice a protest, but no words
would come to her. She knew she should avert her eyes, but she could
not bring herself to do it. Her gaze first fixed on the rise and fall
of the swells of Melinda's breasts, then on the curve of her hips.

"What's your excuse now, huh?" Melinda demanded, though some of the
edge to her voice was lost as well. "I'm not naked. I'm not even
dressed in anything revealing."

"I-I know. I'm not ... I'm not interested either."

"Liar."

"Melinda, really, I'm not. I don't know where you're getting this idea.
I'm not interested in having sex with you."

Melinda's eyes widened a touch and her cheeks grew faintly pink. The
hands that had been curled into fists loosened. "I don't believe you.
You've been /doing/ something to me the past week."

Heather took another deep breath, letting it go through her nose. "Just
your imagination," she said in a soft voice.

Melinda swallowed. "Y-you're still doing it."

"Then run away," Heather snapped. "If you're so afraid I'm going to
make you start licking my pussy or something, then ..."

Melinda uttered a strained sigh and collapsed into a nearby chair. She
dropped her face into her hands and shivered. "Oh God, Heather ..."

"You're horny, aren't you?"

Melinda's cheeks flushed again. "Only because you made me, you
b-bubblehead," she said, her voice husky.

"I'm sorry," Heather breathed. "I-I can't help it. I've tried ... I've
/tried/ ..."

Melinda closed her eyes and shook her head violently before turning
away from Heather.

"Please, it's not my fault. It's something left over from ..."

"You want to make me into your slave again, don't you?"

Heather looked horrified. "No! No, Melinda, I never wanted to do that!"

Melinda swallowed again. Her pussy grew hot and achy. "I wish I could
believe you, Heather."

"Melinda ... we have to do something about this ..."

Melinda shook her head again, rust-brown hair flying. She was panting
lightly.

"I can't keep going like this. Seeing you all the time and feeling like
...."

Melinda shuddered and squirmed in her seat, her panties squishing
against her slit. "I can't."

"You want to, Melinda, you can't tell me you don't."

"/You made me./"

"But ... b-but does it matter? I ..."

Melinda's head whipped around. Fury and lust both burned in her eyes.
She bolted out of her seat, staggering a bit when her thighs gave her
swollen cunt a squeeze that sent another shiver of unwanted pleasure
through her. "You're all hot and bothered? That's /your/ problem! You
go find someone to fuck. Leave me out of it!"

Before Heather could say another word, Melinda fled.

Heather fell back onto the edge of the bed. Her hands dropped into her
lap, her legs spread apart to relieve some of the pressure. She had to
resist the urge to touch herself.

She stared at the seat that Melinda had vacated. She wished she did not
have to impose this on Melinda. She really wished she could have
something -- or someone -- else to distract her.

Heather stood up and headed into the bathroom to make herself
presentable for the meeting. In more ways than one.



Richie was inside the house before the bus had barely left the curb,
and then on the stairs before the front door had finished swinging
closed behind him. He bounded up the stairs two at a time, barely
stepped across the threshold to unceremoniously dump his backpack
inside, and turned back the way he came only a second after it thumped
to the floor.

In less than a minute since he had entered the house, he was already on
his way out, stomping down the steps as if emphasizing his desire to
remove himself from the place. Richie took the last three steps in a
single leap, landing with a heavy thump that made the plastic flowers
in a nearby vase rustle, and raced for the door.

"Hey!"

Richie suddenly stopped and whirled around.

Sandra Gardner had emerged from the kitchen, a frown marring an
otherwise attractive face under a fall of dirty-blonde hair. Fraying
denim cutoffs hugged her hips, a tank top wrapped tightly around the
large swells of her breasts, her feet bare. She lifted a can of beer to
her lips and tipped it back, taking a long swig before speaking to her
son again. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out. See ya." Richie saluted her and turned towards the door.

"Wait a minute. Did you just get home?"

Richie stomped to a halt again and sighed. "No, I've been hidin' in the
basement all day."

"Don't be a fucking wiseass, Richie, I'm not in the mood for it."

"Why? The job workin' ya too hard? That why you're home now?"

"Never mind why I'm home," Sandra snapped. "I told you, my work is none
of your fucking business."

Richie said nothing in reply. There was no point. Her mother knew
better than to make further pretense anyway. She supposedly worked for
a cleaning service. Richie was sure there was more to it than that.

Richie tried not to look at his mother's eyes. That would just make the
Dark Aura go away.

He used to think he didn't want to see it around his own mother.
Looking intently enough into someone's eyes was a way of negating the
perception of the Aura. It made it vanish from the senses for a short
time. It was still there, but simply masked from sight for a bit. When
he had first started seeing it around his mother, he had wanted nothing
more than to stop seeing it.

Now it was the opposite. He wanted to make sure it was there all the
time. He didn't want to take the chance that he might think his mother
was actually someone worth caring about.

And he knew perfectly well why she was home. It was to prevent the
Harbingers from thinking of using that house as a meeting place. It was
the only reason that made sense to him. Jason never mentioned it when
Richie first told them that his mother's schedule had abruptly changed,
but Richie had figured it out for himself.

"Why do you wanna know where I'm going?" Richie demanded.

"Well, funny thing is, Richie, that I have this job called 'mother.'
And it requires I know where the hell you are."

Richie bit back any of the usual responses critical of her capacity in
that role. Despite his sharp tongue now, this was actually a far more
civil attitude than he had had towards her for some time. But it didn't
mean that he was going to be any more direct with her, either.

"I'm gonna go off and join the boy scouts, okay?"

"What, you need a merit badge in smartass or something?" She downed the
rest of her beer. "You got one more chance to tell me where you're
going or you ain't goin' nowhere, got it?"

Richie fumed, his fingers curling into fists. He would have loved to
have told her what she could do with that threat. It was not like she
had any real power over him, or so he believed.

"I'm gonna go see some friends, that's all, Mom."

"Yeah? Which friends?"

"What diff does it make, huh?! Shit!"

"/Which friends,/ Richie?"

Richie was not sure how to answer. This was the first time that his
mother had bothered to ask. As much as he was at odds with the
Harbingers, he didn't want to be the one that brought the Darkness down
on them all.

"Just Jason. Mebbe his girlfriend. Dunno about anyone else."

Sandra appeared to pause for a moment. A peculiar look came across her
face, as if she were struggling with conflicting thoughts in her head.
"Jason, you said?"

Richie paused, feeling a twinge of anxiety. "Um, yeah, Jason. Why?"

Sandra took a half-step to the side, as if having caught herself before
stumbling. Richie eyed her and then the empty can. For a moment, Richie
thought she was drunk, but she looked too lucid and her speech sounded
too clear for that.

In the air surrounding Sandra, the Darkness shuddered.

"What?" Richie said more insistently, his heart pounding. "What about
Jason?"

"Nothing!" Sandra cried, exasperated, looking flustered. "Fine. Just
.... j-just go. But get your fucking butt back here by sunset."

"But why were you so interested in ..."

"Shut up and get out of my face, all right?!" Sandra yelled. She
retreated into the kitchen, her Dark Aura roiling and writhing behind
her. Richie heard the sound of the empty can being violently tossed
into the garbage bin.

Richie frowned and headed out.



"Now, Jason, don't stay out too late," said Audrey Conner as she
followed her son from the foot of the stairs to the door.

Jason turned at the door and smiled. "I won't, Mom, I promise. Anything
you want me to get you on the way home?"

"No, that's fine, I'm planning a big shopping trip tomorrow. You can
come along and help me with that."

"Sure thing, Mom. Anything else?"

Audrey gave her son a faint smile. The auburn-haired woman was still a
bit surprised at this turnaround in her son's attitude. Only a few
weeks ago he had seemed sullen and withdrawn. And before that, during
the summer ...

Well, the less she thought about that, the less likely she was to fear
her son again.

"No, honey, that's all. Thank you for being thoughtful." She leaned
forward and kissed him on the cheek.

Jason smiled again. He was grateful for the show of affection.

He had reason to be. His mother was unaffected by the Darkness thus
far, and he kept a close eye on her to make sure she stayed that way.
He never saw even a trace of a Dark Aura on her. It was a sort of
anchor for him. If he could rely on just one person in his life never
falling to the Darkness, it gave him some measure of hope.

But what also motivated him was guilt.

During the incident with the House, Jason had used its power on her
mother when she tried to take the internet from him. She didn't
understand exactly what he had done to her or how, but it had instilled
a fear of him just the same. After nearly losing everything to Nyssa,
he realized that he didn't want this situation to continue any longer.
But without the power, he could not simply will his mother into
normalcy. He had to work at it instead.

"Well, I'll see you later, Mom."

"I'll close the door for you."

Jason headed into the garage and mounted his bike in one smooth motion.
He was pedaling fast out onto the driveway barely seconds after the
door opened completely.

Jason felt he had good reason to worry about his mother. Where she was
innocent of the Darkness, his father was another matter. But it was
worse than Richie's mother, or at least he felt this way. Where Sandra
was a slave to the Darkness, Henry Conner was willingly working for it.

Jason could tell this from the patterns he saw in the Aura. He alone
out of the Harbingers had this ability. He could tell who was a slave,
and who was a collaborator. And for the former, he could "hear" the
Darkness as it "spoke" to its slave.

He had no idea what his father was doing for the Darkness. He was a
neurosurgeon that worked at the downtown hospital, apparently doing
some research whose purpose he would not disclose. That was as much as
he knew. His father had yet to take an active hand in trying to stop
Jason from fighting the Darkness.

Jason pedaled his bike down the street, and it was not long before he
was out of sight of his house. He really didn't need his bike for this
short trip. But it gave his mother the impression that he was going
further afield, so she would not criticize him for getting "too
serious" about his girlfriend Melinda.

Jason slowed his pace when he saw the long, black limo parked at the
curb just short of the intersection with the avenue that ran by both
the Sovert and Gardner households. Here, the car was just out of sight
of anyone walking down that avenue unless they turned the corner.

As soon as Jason came alongside the limo, he hit the brake and skidded
to a halt just as the window in the rear seat slid down.

"Anything?" Jason called out.

Cassie's face appeared at the window. "Jason, he stayed after with Miss
Davis today," she said in a distressed voice. Behind her, a lanky girl
in the shadows waved.

Jason nodded to her. "Hey, Diane. Cassie, did Richie do anything else
with her?"

"It was hard to tell. I only listened from the hall. I didn't want to
take the chance on being seen."

"Did you get a look at Miss Davis?"

"Briefly. I tried to go and talk to her after Richie was gone, but she
shooed me out of the room. She was trying to hide it, but she was
upset."

Jason sighed. "Damn him," he muttered.

"Jason, I don't know if Richie actually did anything to her. I mean, he
had two weeks to try anything. Why only now?"

"Yeah, but I put you on watching him only in the last week or so."

"Maybe it was perfectly innocent."

Cassie hated the idea that Richie was backsliding. While she was not as
enamored of him as she once was, she didn't want to be unkind towards
him.

And the truth was, Jason did this at Melinda's insistence. Linda Davis
was her favorite teacher, and she grew increasingly paranoid that
Richie was going to take advantage of any lingering influence. Cassie
had agreed to do it largely because the class she had at the same time
put her just across the hall from Richie's anyway.

"Yeah, I wish I could believe that," Jason said. He was still angry
over the way Richie had dismissed their attempts to stand up to the
Darkness when he had intercepted his friend on the way to Linda's house
to complete her enslavement. He wanted to believe that Richie was
trying to do better, but Melinda was still so vociferous in her hatred
of him, and he held Melinda's opinions in high regard lately.

"So we keep an eye on him still?" Cassie asked in a tired voice.

"Not much else we can do. All right, we have to get this meeting
started. I'll just meet you over there."

Jason was pedaling away even as he uttered the final sentence.



"All right ... well ... the first thing is, though most of you already
know this by now, is that it's definitely Melissa Hendell."

Even though she had been expecting it, Diane met Jason's words with a
terrible sense of disappointment. She flopped back against her seat on
the sofa, wrapping her arms around herself. She seemed to draw herself
in, as if trying not to touch either the hand rest on one side or
Heather on the other. She couldn't even bring herself to look at
Heather. She averted her gaze to the other side of the room, where
Richie sat alone in a chair borrowed from the dining room.

"So someone saw her black shit?" Richie called out.

"Oh yeah," Ned said, nodding his head. He squatted on the floor next to
the chair in which Cassie sat. "More black than the inside of a bowling
ball warehouse at night in the middle of a power outage."

Cassie's lips curled into a tiny smile and she had to resist the
impulse to giggle. "It's pretty bad, yes," she commented.

"God, who /hasn't/ seen it?" Melinda piped, leaning against Jason and
shivering.

"I haven't," Diane said glumly.

Heather turned her head and looked at her friend with concern. Diane's
eyes flicked to her and then darted away. "You mean you haven't run
into her yet?" Heather asked hopefully.

Diane sighed, feeling her cheeks flush. She hated being put on the spot
like this. "I mean, I can't."

"You still can't?" Melinda asked, surprised. "Why not?"

"Melinda, shut up," Heather snapped.

"Don't tell me to shut up! You're not the boss here, Jason is!"

"Look, everyone just stop, okay?" Diane called out in desperation. Her
eyes shimmered as she looked at the others. She sighed and stood up.
"I'll just leave. I'm sorry."

"Diane, no. Wait, Diane!" Heather bolted out of her seat and stepped in
front of her friend. "Please, I ..."

"Heather, I was looking right at her!" Diane cried. "She was right in
front of me! I could almost reach out and touch her, I was so close. I
saw nothing."

"Diane, that's dangerous. You know ... you know what she might ... I
mean, what she /can/ do ..."

Diane shook her head. "No, forget it. I can't stay here when I'm
totally useless."

"Diane, /wait,/" Heather grabbed Diane's arm when the lanky girl
started to edge around her.

"Come on, Diane, ya don't hafta leave," Ned said. "So ya can't see the
spooky black stuff. It's overrated, anyway."

"Diane, you helped me free one of the others from Nyssa!" Cassie called
out. "That wasn't useless!"

Melinda's eyes just flicked between the two older girls. She had never
been a big fan of Diane. Most of the time Heather was tying up the
phone line, it was Diane with whom she was conversing. Also, if Melinda
were unfortunate enough to be in the same room with both of them, their
teasing was so merciless it sometimes drove her to tears.

That was before the House happened, but it was a recent enough memory
that it still hurt. She bit her lip, unsure of what to say or do.

"But I can't see the Darkness," Diane said, her voice quavering. "All
of you can. I'm just going to wind up getting someone in trouble for
having to go save me or something like that."

"Diane, you can't leave, please," Heather begged. "You ... it's not
safe ..."

"That's my point! I don't want to drag all of you into this."

Heather gave Diane a pleading look that quickly turned to one of
exasperation. She looked over to Jason. "Jason, please, tell her that
we'd come after her anyway, that it doesn't matter if she's in the
group."

"Heather, don't do this ..."

"Heather's right, Diane," Jason finally said. "We're not going to
abandon you. We're going to go help anyone that Melissa may decide to
take."

"Fuck, she hasn't even taken anyone yet," Richie drawled.

"We don't know that," Melinda piped indignantly.

"Well, I didn't hear no one say nothin' about black shit around anyone
else, 'kay?"

"You're such a turd, Richie."

Richie's eyes met Melinda's spiteful gaze, and he opened his mouth as
if to hurl an insult back at her. Instead, his mouth snapped shut, and
he clenched his jaw until the joint spasmed in pain. He seethed
quietly, or largely so after grabbing his chair and jerking his body so
that it tipped back briefly and came down with a loud thump.

Cassie gave Richie a sympathetic look, though he did not see it, before
turning her gaze to Jason. Jason looked a bit upset. He glanced at
Melinda and looked as if he were about to say something to her, but one
glare from Melinda appeared to silence him.

This annoyed Cassie. Melinda had started mouthing off more often over
the past week and Jason didn't seem to want to stop her. She knew they
were rather close now, but Jason had always been more willing to gently
silence her when she was getting out of hand. Now only Heather did it,
and in a way that just set Melinda off even more.

Heather turned back to Diane. "See? It doesn't matter if you leave,
we're going to protect you anyway. So you might as well stay."

Diane gave Heather a stricken look. At the same time, she felt a
renewed feeling of affection for her friend. It was making her own
struggles that much harder. She finally swallowed hard and said in a
shaky voice, "Fine. I'll stay. But we better tell them."

Heather's eyes widened. "Um ... tell them what?"

"Tell them why we think Melissa might go after us."

"What?? She knows about the Harbingers?" Melinda piped. "Who told
her?!"

Her gaze flicked over the others and came to rest on Richie, her eyes
narrowing in obvious accusation. This time, Richie exploded.

"Hey, /fuck you/, Melinda! I didn't tell nothin' to nobody! Don't hang
this on ...!"

Jason was finally prompted to action, though he looked reluctant, and
his voice did not carry much force to it. "Melinda, please, there
wouldn't be any point for Richie ... for /anyone/ ... to go telling her
anything about us."

"No, no, no!" Diane cried. She looked terribly embarrassed, her cheeks
flaming. She hated trying to talk to so many people at once. "Not the
Harbingers. I don't mean all of us, I mean Heather and I."

"Diane, that was ... that was months ago, maybe she ..." Heather said.

"Heather, you're the one that warned me about it earlier!"

Heather's eyes shimmered.

Melinda frowned. "Warned you about what?" she demanded.

Heather glared at her, but there was little enthusiasm behind it.
"Look, this was before everything started. Before the House. Before ...
"

"Before you decided to stop being a total jerk?"

Heather frowned deeply, but nodded.

"Aw, man, don't tell me we're talkin' revenge angle here," Ned said,
crossing his legs under him. With his tall and thin frame, this gave
the impression of a large grasshopper waiting to jump. "She's not gonna
start zapping people like in /Carrie/, is she?"

"That was telekinesis," Jason pointed out. "This is mind control.
Different method."

"Oh, well, fuck, that makes it all /so/ much better," Richie sneered.
"Was real worried til you cleared that up."

Melinda opened her mouth to retort but Jason managed to talk over her,
as if finally emboldened by hearing of a possible new threat to his
friends. "Heather, you want to tell us what happened? Did you do
something to Melissa?"

"Like in Cassie's dream?" Melinda asked, looking aghast.

Heather looked horrified. "What?! No! We never pulled shit like that on
her!"

A week ago, Cassie had had a vivid dream about a honey-haired girl
being taken out to a forest, where she stripped herself naked and
allowed herself to be tied to stakes in the ground. It became apparent
that she had been tricked into participating in a bogus ceremony to
humiliate her. Later she encountered a strange, dark being that offered
her a great power. She willingly accepted it, and the dream faded out
just as the girl gained the Dark Aura about her body.

Cassie started to vent some of her annoyance at Melinda. "Melinda, come
on, you don't really think Heather and Diane could do something like
that. I mean ..." She glanced nervously at them, having occasionally
suffered choice barbs from them the year before. "... I mean, they
never got that bad ..."

"/Oh yes they did!/" Melinda screeched. "Go on and ask them about all
the times they teased me until I cried, and then laughed at me when I
went running to Mom and Dad to get them to stop!"

"Melinda stop it!" Heather cried. "I'm sorry for all that! /I'm sorry!/
I won't ever do it to you again! I p-promise!"

Melinda stared at her big sister, thunderstruck. An awkward silence
fell over the others.

Heather took a deep breath and wiped at the trickle of tears on her
cheeks. She felt more embarrassed than contrite. Her feelings for
Melinda and her fear over Melissa had combined to make her emotionally
fragile for a passing moment.

But her apology had been sincere. Even as difficult as it was to change
her life, she had no desire to tease Melinda as badly as she once did.

Diane tentatively slid an arm around Heather's waist, hoping it would
be taken only as a show of support from a friend and nothing more. She
was struggling to keep it to that in her own mind. Heather smiled
faintly in appreciation and shared a quick hug with her friend, causing
Diane to draw in her breath and hold it for a moment until they
separated.

"I'm ... I ..." Melinda faltered as Heather turned around to face the
rest of them.

Heather shook her head. "Forget it," she said softly.

Melinda opened her mouth again, but closed it without saying a word.

"Heather, I hate to push you, but I think you need to tell us what
happened," Jason said. "I mean ... I don't want this to be like last
time. With Nyssa I felt like I was going around with only half of what
I needed to know. Like I just missed understanding things I should have
picked up. I don't want that to happen again."

Heather nodded as she and Diane sat back down. "Okay, um ... it was
like this ... Melissa was the new girl in town. She was a real dork."

Jason smirked very slightly. He remembered when Heather thought that
same thing of him before the House.

"Um, yeah, well, you know what I mean, okay? Anyway, she was trying to
get with the in-crowd. But she was really out of it instead. She didn't
know what was cool, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she missed the memo on that, huh?" Melinda muttered.

Heather didn't rise to the bait and continued on as if Melinda had said
nothing. She glanced at Diane, who had averted her eyes again. "So me
and Diane play along with her anyway, get her interested, make her
think we're going to let her hang out with us."

"Make her think you're going to be her friends, you mean," Melinda
piped angrily.

"Melinda, please, I want to hear Heather out," said Cassie sharply.

Melinda blinked in surprise at this rebuke and subsided reluctantly.

"Thank you," Heather said with relief, grateful that there was someone
at the meeting that had some control over Melinda.

Ned smiled faintly up at Cassie. He changed position again, drawing his
knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He had some
sympathy for Diane. He felt a bit like the odd man out as well. He
didn't share the same history as the others and didn't have a lot to
contribute.

And to be honest, all this talk tended to bore him.

Ned always thought he was more a doer than a talker. Even when he had
been "recruited" after his rescue from Nyssa, he had wanted to cut to
the chase and storm Nyssa's office.

"Look, I admit, it was stupid, okay? I wish I had never done it,"
Heather said. She met Melinda's dubious look with the retort, "And not
just because I'm afraid of Melissa going after me."

Diane sighed. Dragging it out felt like torture to her. "Look, let's
just tell them, please? I want to get this over with."

"It wasn't even that big a deal, really, or at least Melissa didn't
make it out to be at first," said Heather. "We ... well, after she
started hanging out with us, we start talking about boys. So we get
this idea to play a trick on her. One of Diane's friends, um ..."

"George," Diane said in a hollow voice. "George Urdine."

"Yeah, him. He and his girlfriend were in on it, when he was going with
that bi gal."

"Huh?" Richie suddenly spoke up. "Bi?"

"Yeah, figures you'd perk up hearing that," Melinda said acidly. She
still resented Richie for the time he made her and Heather have sex
with each other at the House. She glanced over at Heather, then blinked
and looked away, shivering.

Heather continued, trying to ignore the others. "We claimed we had this
really great guy we wanted to introduce Melissa to. Told her he was
interested in all the same dorky ... uh ... the same stuff that she
was. We set it up for them to meet in a burger joint over by the city
park.

"So George is there with his girlfriend, but they sit in different
booths. Melissa doesn't know George so she doesn't know he has a girl.
So we get shy little Melissa to meet with George, and he just wows her.
She's like hanging on his every word or something."

"Just like we planned it," Diane added, folding her arms tightly, her
eyes slightly downcast.

"So, they start talking hot and heavy ..."

"Hot and heavy?" Cassie asked.

"Sex, Cassie," Melinda piped.

Cassie blushed and nodded. Ned glanced up at her and wrapped his arms
more tightly about his knees, trying not to think about Cassie and sex
in the same thought.

"Not sex, runt," Heather snapped. "But they were talking sorta
intimate. He ... well, he kinda gave her the impression he was really
into her. That he wanted to kiss her. So ... so he had her close her
eyes ... and, um, well, she got this really, really sexy, long, drawn
out kiss ... from his girlfriend."

Cassie gasped softly. Richie hid a smirk behind his hand. Ned just
blinked once and very nearly chuckled. He caught himself when he saw
the look of shock on Cassie's face.

Melinda had a look of disgust on her face, as if she had just trodden
in something dirty and smelly.

Jason was trying to be careful not to show a lot of outward reaction.
Nevertheless, he thought it was a rather dirty trick to play on
someone. He had to remind himself that this was the Heather before the
Harbingers, before they knew of the Darkness. She wasn't like that now.

Diane could not even raise her eyes to the others. Heather looked only
at Melinda, as if daring her to say something. "Look, she was
embarrassed, okay, but she didn't look that bad. I mean, she even tried
to laugh at it."

"Along with you two, right?" Melinda piped. "Betcha thought you were
sooo funny, miss bubblehead."

"Melinda, I already said I'm sorry I did it."

"Yeah, because someone is coming after you now! Never would've thought
of that if this hadn't happened!"

"Please, this isn't getting us anywhere." Cassie said.

"Um, Cassie's right," Jason finally said. "I think we've heard enough
about it."

"No, you need to hear one more thing," Diane said, her eyes shimmering.
"We found out later ..."

"That might not be true, Diane!" Heather said.

"Well, we don't know, so maybe we need to assume it is. That may have
been her first kiss."

"What??" Melinda gasped. "Oh, way to go, you two! Ruining a girl's
first kiss. Brilliant."

"I /said/, we don't know if that's true," Heather insisted.

"Look, enough," Jason said. "It doesn't matter at this point. I'm not
sure we even needed to hear as much as we did, but thank you for
telling us, both of you. I know that was probably awkward."

Diane just wanted to disappear. She felt embarrassed at having to tell
the others, and she was worried that Heather was angry with her now.
Heather just nodded and subsided, refusing to meet Melinda's glare.

"So now what?" Richie said. "So they fucked with the new girl in town.
She gonna go gunning for them now?"

Jason sighed. "I don't know. I was hoping Cassie might be able to tell
us something more."

Cassie flinched at being put under the spotlight suddenly.

"Have you had any more dreams, Cassie?" Jason asked, realizing that she
needed a little prompting.

"No, and that's what's been frustrating me. Well, I have had dreams, I
always do. But they're really fuzzy, like I get only bits and pieces."

Richie shifted his feet.

"Ever since I saw Melissa take the power from that dark figure, it's
like I'm trying to look through a curtain to see anything. Everything
is blurry and indistinct. I catch only occasional lucid bits."

"Gotta be something in those bits, babe," Ned said, trying to sound
encouraging.

"Well ... all I can say is that I think Melissa has taken someone
already. Maybe more than one."

"Probably the ones that played that awful prank on her in the first
place," Melinda said. "Serves 'em right."

Richie frowned. "You fucking nuts or something?"

Melinda looked taken aback. "What??"

"You actually want her to fuck with someone's head?"

"I didn't mean it that way! I just ...!"

"I got the sense they were older," Cassie said a bit loudly. "Older
than Melissa, anyway."

"Seniors," said Jason. "That may be why we haven't spotted them yet.
Their class rotation schedule is so different from all of ours."

"Okay, so we spot 'em," said Richie. "Then what?"

Jason considered for a long moment, all eyes on him. "Maybe nothing,"
he finally said.

Many of the others looked at him in surprise.

"I've been thinking about this since Cassie revealed her dream to me.
Remember what Mara warned us about?"

"She said a lotta weird shit, Jason," Richie said. "Which one was it?"

"The one where she said that a girl from Haven High would fall to the
Darkness this semester."

"But lots of girls fell to it, Jason," Cassie said. "When Nyssa was
here."

"But they really didn't have a lot of choice, did they? They were
enslaved. I don't think that's what she meant. Especially when Mara
said that we shouldn't stand in her way or we'd get hurt. That implies
someone taking power for herself, so she can use it against others."

"But Nyssa did that," Melinda piped. "When she sent people she took to
go after others."

"No, I get it now," said Cassie. "That's not the same. Slaves taking
other slaves. Melissa is not a slave. She took the power herself. I saw
it in my dream."

"And I've seen Melissa," Jason said. "I can tell from her Aura that
she's not a slave. She has the same patterns that my ... that someone
who went voluntarily into the Darkness would have."

"Come on, yer not sayin' we just sit on our hands, are ya?" Ned spoke
up. "I didn't get into this outfit to jus' sit around and let things
happen."

"Well, I'm not saying that, either," Jason said. "Mara told us we can
try to stop others from falling victim to her."

"But what about the babes she's already got, huh?"

"I don't think we can do anything for them."

Ned made a face. "Jeez, dude, that's kinda cold."

Jason gave him a sullen look. "I didn't say that I liked it."

Melinda glanced over to Heather and Diane before looking back at Jason.
"So we have to protect the bubbleheads here from Melissa, then?"

"Melinda, don't call us that!" Heather snapped.

"Don't expect any sympathy from me! That was a really dirty and mean
trick you pulled on her. Look, I don't want her messing with you or
Diane, okay? But don't expect me to pretend like you didn't do
something terrible to her in the first place."

"Heather, are you sensing anything?" Cassie asked.

Heather looked confused. "Huh? Oh, you mean ... no, I haven't felt like
something was going to happen to any of us. I haven't felt anything
like that all week."

"So maybe Melissa hasn't really targeted you at all."

Heather sighed. "I don't know. I don't get these visions very far ahead
of when things happen. And lately it's all been really fuzzy when I do
get them. I really wish you could tell us more about what Melissa is
doing, Cassie. We'd both feel better knowing."

"That makes two of us."

But Diane was already feeling a little better. Heather had told her
about Mara and the predictions she had made, but she had forgotten that
detail. Knowing that perhaps it had been preordained that they had to
protect her made it easier. At least she felt she could make eye
contact with nearly everyone again.

Everyone except Heather.

She had no idea what Heather thought of her now. She almost wished
Jason had blabbed her secret to Heather. It might have been easier than
broaching the subject herself.

Ned folded his arms and grumbled. Cassie turned her head and gave him a
sympathetic look.

"Ned, how can we do anything against Melissa anyway?" Jason asked. "We
don't know anything about her power or its limits or her intentions."

"I-I've heard some really strange stuff about her, Jason," Melinda
said, shivering. "Like ... like she can just wave a hand at someone and
make them do stuff. Or like the other day I saw Wendy Michaels after
last class. She was staggering around, breathing hard and moaning. She
could barely work the combination on her locker. I think ... I think
she was c-cumming."

Richie's eyebrows rose.

"What, you mean Melissa gave her ... gave her an orgasm?" Jason asked.

"But one that wouldn't stop! Or she kept having them over and over,
like once a minute."

Richie snickered.

"Did she have a Dark Aura?" Jason asked before Melinda could retaliate.

Melinda still shot a sour look at Richie. "I thought I saw one tiny
little wisp, but that was it. I tried to help her, but she waved me
off. She was so embarrassed! But I think it started getting better once
she was able to head to the exit. Then that wisp disappeared."

"Sounds like she's playin' with her food before she eats it," Ned
commented dryly.

"Or just being a bully herself." Melinda could understand the reasons
behind Melissa's actions even if she didn't condone them. She tried to
do something like that herself when she had been tangled up with the
House.

"We can't stop her from 'playing' with people like that, can we?" Diane
asked.

"We're not going to get anywhere until we learn more about Melissa. And
that pendant of hers," said Jason.

"The pendant?"

"Yeah. Remember, Cassie said the dark figure seemed to think it was
important. It made the figure offer Melissa the Power." Jason glanced
at his watch. "I think we better wrap this up. I don't think we want to
chance Heather and Melinda's Mom coming home."

"She's not due for another hour, Jason."

"I know, but ... but I want some time, um, for something else."

Richie smirked, knowing full well what he meant.

"Jason, I already told Melinda that ..." Heather began.

"Jason, when can we meet again, huh?" Melinda said loudly. "We should
meet again soon."

Jason frowned. "Well, that's the problem. We're about to lose the one
place we could go. Unless anyone else had any luck ..."

Diane sighed and shook her head. "We can't do it at my place. My mother
won't allow me to bring that many people over without adult
supervision. And she works during the day."

"No'em meeting place here, kemosabe," said Ned, shaking his head.
"Let's just say that the ol' homestead is not in top shape
family-wise."

"I looked into renting a room at a conference center," said Cassie.
"But my parents have to clear it because I'm a minor, and they want to
know exactly what I need it for, and want Harry my driver to
chaperone."

Jason looked over to Richie.

Richie made a face. "What?"

"What about your place?" Jason asked patiently.

"Oh. Nah, man. Not with my ever-lovin' mother changin' her lovin'
hours. What about your place, dude?"

Jason shook his head. "Mom's home all the time."

"So? She don't have black shit around her."

"But my father does," Jason said coldly. "You want it getting back to
him?"

"So what do we do?" Melinda piped.

"I don't know yet. We're going to have to play it by ear. Keep in touch
by phone and email, hold impromptu get-togethers. Cassie had the idea
we might all meet sometime this weekend in a restaurant."

Richie snorted. "Most joints don't want crowds like this, man."

"Not a fast-food place, a regular restaurant."

"That I can get my parents to approve," Cassie said. "Any opportunity
for me to flaunt my family's money to my friends is time well spent in
their view."

"Huh. Isn't that kinda too out in the open?" Ned said. "Anyone can
overhear us."

"It a psychological thing, Ned," said Jason with a small smile. "When
was the last time you remembered a conversation at a restaurant? Or at
some other public venue? You just tune it out. Everyone else will be
intent on their meal and not mind us. So long as we watch for people
with Auras, and we're not too loud, we should be okay."

Ned smirked. "Guess that's why yer the brains of the outfit."

"But we can't keep doing this forever. We have to come up with an idea.
Otherwise ..." Jason paused and sighed deeply. "... otherwise this is
the last meeting of the Harbingers."
<1st attachment end>


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