“The Catalyst” Series

“Racing The Clock”

Chapter 10: Two More for a Grand Reception

Cast List

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Alex and his entourage entered the restaurant where they were meeting Patricia. They’d stopped to pick up Peter and David again so they numbered quite a few people, but Alex was confident that Patricia had reserved a good portion of the restaurant for just such events. When they entered, Patricia was already waiting for them and she got up and kissed Alex, welcoming him warmly.

“Have a good time last night?” she asked teasingly.

“I’m not sure I’d describe it as a barrel of laughs, but I can’t complain,” Alex replied with a laugh.

“Yeah, I suspected you might have a problem with it,” Patricia replied, reading between the lines. “Your girls in Illinois said you’d have difficulty with getting strangers pregnant.”

“I think he worked through that,” Cate said, whispering so the others nearby wouldn’t overhear. Alex and Patricia had been speaking quietly to begin with, not wanting to insult the girls that Alex had just slept with, but Cate was even more cautious.

“So how many do you have planned for me tonight?” Alex asked, speaking a little louder now that the others were gathered around them.

“We’ll get to that in a little while. I’m afraid if I bring them out now you’ll spend the rest of dinner talking them up, and then I won’t be able to appreciate my time with you,” Patricia playfully teased.

“Can I ask if my mother is one of the ones selected tonight?” Lekesia asked. Apparently she was anxious about sharing what she’d encountered with her mother.

“Yeah,” Patricia responded, “we tested her earlier and she’s officially ovulating, so she made the cut. Are you sure you want to be here when she and Alex first get together?” she asked.

“Hell yeah,” she responded. “We’ve both talked about the issues and we know what’s involved. We fully support each other in this, and we’re here to cheer each other on. Mom was very supportive of me last night, so I’d like to be here to support her tonight, as well.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear,” Patricia replied. “It’s hardly the response I would have expected, though.”

“I suspect most of Alex’s followers are a little out of the ordinary, Patty,” Lekesia told her.

“You know,” Alex said, changing the subject, “you seem to have taken on a whole new persona. Should I be calling you Patty or Patricia like I have been?”

She smiled at this. “Please keep calling me Patricia, since it’s my name. Patty is something I picked up because Henry thought it sounded more successful. He envisions the day I’m only known by a single name, like Cher or Madonna,” she said with a laugh.

“Careful there,” Gail said, “you’re showing your age with your idea of modern cultural icons.”

“Well, I suspect that Alex is fairly culturally literate. I suspect he’s even studied up on other famous blues singers since he was last here.”

“That I have,” Alex replied.

“Oh, wow,” Lekesia replied, “I’m sorry, should I have been calling you Patricia all along?”

“Most people call me Patty now, but since you’re now officially one of Alex’s girls I consider you a close friend, so feel free to call me Patricia from now on.”

They sat and Patricia again had their dinners preordered for them, and it was again both special and delicious. Cate explained what had happened after they’d left the club the previous night, how they’d met Mattie and how they’d encountered their least favorite reporter. Patricia listened carefully, deeply concerned, but agreed with Alex that they’d have to see what he eventually reported before they could make or change any plans. They all knew if things got difficult Alex would be likely to flee the city rather than expose his followers to public scrutiny, but they also knew they were planning on leaving in a few days anyway.

“I’ve got a few items to go over,” Alex said, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear. “First, I wasn’t sure what policy you wanted to apply to my sperm donations, but if it’s the same to you I’d like the girls here to be able to utilize it in case they don’t get pregnant from last night.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I figured that would be your approach. The other girls and I talked about it beforehand, and everyone was sure you’d want to pre-interview anyone you were supposed to get pregnant.”

“That was a good idea,” Cate told her. “I could see Alex was wrestling with it last night, and it was one of the first things that Hannah asked about today.”

“I’m glad you got a chance to see her, as she was very curious about you. What did she say about the girls? Are they all OK?”

“Oh, if you mean are they pregnant yet, you should already know the answer to that, since you can clearly see it,” Cate told her. “Besides, I’m sure you had them each examined before you’d allow them to sleep with Alex, am I right?”

Patricia laughed and told her she was correct, and that each girl was not only healthy but disease free.

“OK, that brings up the second point,” Alex told her. “I appreciate the slow controlled approach, even though I’m not sure forcing me to sleep with three women each night is exactly a slow approach, but don’t you think I should meet the other potential Seers before much time passes. After all, if you can introduce three women at the peak of their fertile cycle each night, each of which is anxious to get pregnant, then surely there are a significant number of them waiting to be activated. After all, you never know when plans may change.”

“You’ve got a good point, and I can tell you’re thinking you may have to leave town quickly, so I can see your point. I’ll try to get everyone together so you can activate them all at once tomorrow, although are you sure that’s what you want to do? You seem to like knowing everyone you activate personally. I’d thought that was the approach you wanted to take.”

“In this case, with the numbers we seem to be discussing, I think we can skip over the typical approach. As long as each one gets the full indoctrination and training, I can’t see any problem with doing it all at once. I’d hate to think of any of them missing out because I had to leave town unexpectedly. Normally when I meet a new Seer I get to know them pretty well. But I usually get to know them very well when I boost their abilities. But I try to do that only for those that I’m especially close to, or that I see as fitting into a special role in this mission of mine. But it’s really not necessary for me to become close to every one of my followers. As the numbers grow, there’s bound to be a little more distance involved with many of them.”

“Well, I’ll try to get you together with as many as I can, but as you said, I don’t want to overwhelm you. But don’t be fooled by the numbers you’ve seen so far. Actually there aren’t that many waiting to get pregnant. There’s plenty that are anxious to get pregnant, and they’re dying for a chance to get you to be the father, but there isn’t as many as the initial batch would lead you to believe. We only have two tonight.”

“So have the two tonight already eaten? If not, why didn’t you invite them to dinner? After all, I can get to know them over dinner just as well as I can afterwards.”

“You’ve got a good point, but they’re eating in the other room,” Patricia replied.

“But we have seats ready for them, and we haven’t gotten our food yet,” Alex argued. “And I’m willing to bet that, even if they’ve already started eating, they’d be more than glad to join us.”

Patricia sighed and signaled someone, Alex turned and saw it was Stacy. A few minutes later she led two women out. They were still a ways away, and as soon as they entered the room they immediately looked at Alex, but he averted his gaze, waiting for them to get to the table before meeting their looks. They were followed out by a waiter carrying their plates.

“Mom,” Lekesia called, and got up to embrace her mother. Alex still didn’t look, even as both women seated themselves across from him. Everyone switched positions, and Carolyn and Kristi offered to take the other girls’ table in the other room to make room for everyone. Once everyone was seated and they had time to prepare themselves, Alex finally looked up and glanced at the two women, making direct eye contact with Noel first. They had both been prepared, so she didn’t react too much, though if you were used to seeing it it was obvious what was occurring.

Noel was easy to identify since she looked very much like her daughter. She was dressed nicely, with unusual jewelry and a beautiful dress. She had smooth skin, a nice smile and beautiful eyes. They both shared the same nose, the same cheekbones and lips, but they both plucked their eyebrows, relying on painted eyebrows, or at least heavily highlighted ones. Both were beautiful women, and Alex had no doubt their children would be beautiful as well. Well, aside from some unattractive eyebrows from both sides of the family tree.

As Noel recovered, Alex turned his attention to the other girl, who Patricia hurriedly introduced as Diane Tucker, a brunette who was pretty but who didn’t stand out in particular. She had a scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks, she had thin lips and big brown eyes, and great skin that probably had more to do with her age than anything else. She was definitely pretty, and her eyes grabbed you, but she just didn’t stand out as much as some of Alex’s many girls. He thought it would help if he could get her to smile. Right now she seemed too intimidated to do that much.

However she didn’t react in the typical manner. She didn’t recoil and her eyes didn’t go out of focus. Instead she looked Alex directly in the eyes with a look that can only be described as awestruck.

Alex turned and regarded Patricia. “I think your selection process hit another bump,” he advised her.

“Damn. We were pretty sure about these. Diane described how she was adept at picking up subtle clues about people, which we interpreted as her reading their energy signatures.”

“Well, it looks like that was something else,” Alex informed her.

“That could very well have simply been her picking up on the normal visual clues,” Cate said. “Women have been observing other women for millennia, so you’ve got to expect some mistakes from that. She’s probably just more perceptive than others. But I thought you have a whole checklist of other items to corroborate your selections?”

“Generally we do, but sometimes someone fits some categories and not others,” Patricia hurried to answer. “It’s hardly a hard science at the moment. So far we’re doing fairly well at picking them, since we’ve only had two misidentifications, but still, I’m sorry about this. I’ll take care of her for you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex told her, patting her hand to calm her. “I won’t have you shuffling her off due to your embarrassment.” He turned back to Diane.

“So, I take it you aren’t seeing any visions?” he asked, just to verify his observations.

“No, I’m really sorry, sir. I was so looking forward to it. I didn’t mean to...”

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. So are you still interested in getting pregnant?”

She looked momentarily stunned, and took a moment to gather herself enough to answer. “Oh, yes, sir. More than anything. I’ve been ready for a baby for some time now, and when the opportunity turned up for me to have yours I jumped at the chance. The whole Seer/Watcher movement here has become such a major event in my life, and I so much want to help spread it so that others can share these abilities we seem to... uh... share. Anyway, I wanted to help spread these abilities to others, even if I may not have them myself.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex told her again. “I don’t think any less of you for being a Watcher, but it’s just important for us to address the Seers first, since they have so much riding on their activation. The Watchers don’t gain as much from meeting me. So you were saying you’re still interested in having a baby? Are you prepared to take care of it and watch over it, whether or not he or she has any abilities of its own?”

“Oh, yes, sir, I do. I’ll love it, regardless of anything else. But I’ll treasure it even more knowing it’s yours. Even if he doesn’t have your abilities to, uh, activate people, he’ll likely have your personality, your kindness and your protectiveness. I couldn’t imagine anyone I’d want to father my child than you, sir.”

“OK, you can lay off the sir business. If we’re going to make a baby, we need to know each other’s names. My name is Alex, not sir. You wouldn’t want to tell your baby about its ‘sir’ when it’s 14, now would you?”

She blushed. “No, si... No, I wouldn’t, Alex.”

“Good. Now hold on a minute while I check on Noel,” he told her.

As usual, Alex had only looked at each woman as he spoke to them, not veering his eyes, since he knew what could happen if he did. Thus he hadn’t been watching Noel for some time. Turning back he regarded her.

“How are you holding up, Noel?” he asked her.

She seemed to have recovered, as she continued to blink repeatedly and was glancing around, observing everything around her. She also couldn’t look directly at Alex.

“I’m fine, sir... sorry, I mean Alex. It’s quite a significant change, I’ll give you that. Everything has changed.” Lekesia was holding Noel’s hand, quietly whispering to her.

“Cate, I just noticed something a little odd,” Lekesia said. “I tried speaking telepathically to my mother just after Alex activated her. However I couldn’t communicate with her until Alex just spoke to her. I suspect we can’t do it on our own. I think we’re still dependent on Alex. I mean, sure, he has to activate them, but I think he’s got to make the initial telepathic connection first.”

“So it’s like he has to give them their psychic telephone number before you can call them,” Cate suggested.

“Yeah, that seems like a good explanation,” Lekesia answered.

“It’s nice to meet you, Noel,” Alex told her, ignoring the side conversation. “I feel I already know you from what your daughter has told me. But there’s still a lot I don’t know. I know you were married to a Jewish man who traveled down to New Orleans, and that you carved out a home here, but I don’t know what you do to get by, or any of the particulars.”

“Well, I married Alvin during his spring break from college in New York and he never went home. He had a fair amount of money, but his family disapproved of us so they stopped communicating with him. When he died about ten years ago, they managed to revoke his trust fund so all of our funds were cut off. I went to work then, trying to earn enough to keep going while also trying to raise Lekesia. I worked while we were married, so I was able to find a job working at a small business. I answer the phone, help around the shop and man the register. It’s a job but hardly a career, but I like the people and they treat me well. However, the neighborhood we live in isn’t the best, and it’s gotten worse over the years, to the point I don’t trust Lekesia will be safe there anymore. I want her to do better, but we have limited means of accomplishing that.”

“Well, you have a lot of new friends now, and it sounds like you’ve done a good job of raising your daughter, so it’s possible someone here can find something she can do, or they might be able to help her out. We’ll have to see. But right now I’m more interested in you than in her. She told me all about herself last night. I think you deserve to have someone paying attention to you, for a change. You’ve focused on Lekesia for long enough, let me take care of you for tonight at least.”

“That’s why I’m not allowed to be there tonight,” Lekesia told her mother. “He says he wants to spend the time with you and that I’ll be more of a distraction, and now that he’s explained it like that I agree with him. We can talk about it afterwards, so I’ll meet you in the morning. But believe me, it will be a wonderful experience for you. You’ll never forget it.”

“Does that go for us normal types as well?” Diane asked.

Sighing, Alex turned to her. “Diane, you’ve hardly been demoted to the normal type 3s. And even if you were, they’re just as vital and as much a part of this movement as anyone else. I’ve been focusing on the Seers simply because they tend to demand attention, but I don’t want you to think I value you any less because you don’t see lights or speak telepathically. I had two Watchers living with me at my home for the last several months, and I don’t think any less of them than I do the others. In fact, my two type 3 girlfriends would argue with you that I treat anyone any differently. Now I can understand if you’re disappointed, but you’ll need to get used to it. You’re going to have a baby to think about soon, and he or she is not going to need a mother who is distracted thinking about what her life could have been. You need to focus on the here and now.”

Diane dropped her head and mumbled that she was sorry, so Alex leaned over and lifted her head up and she repeated it louder this time. “Just remember, if we’re going to be making love and having a baby, I don’t take that kind of thing lightly. You and I are going to be tied together for life after this, and both you and that baby are going to be vital to me. I want you to realize that I’m getting close to loving you, and hopefully I’ll be there soon. So don’t belittle yourself. After all, I believe in you.”

“That’s my brother for you,” Cate told her, “he tends to be a little over the top sometimes. It’s best to just humor him, so I’d suggest you start acting like you’re happy to be a part of what’s going on.”

“OK, getting to you now, Diane. What about you? What do you do, who are you and what are you good at?”

Diane took a deep breath, still a bit intimidated by Alex, and started to reply.

“I’m a marriage counselor. I work mainly through churches, although I also do work in divorce cases. I do good work and always hope for the best, but the majority of my cases end up in divorce and I end up feeling like I’m not making much of a difference. That’s why I was so excited to join this, uh, movement of yours. I want to be more than just a cog in a machine. I want to be a significant part of something bigger than myself. I also want my child to be proud of his mother. I plan on telling him all about his father, and what I’ve been able to do for him, so someone in this life will know that I did something significant with my life.”

“A marriage counselor, huh?” Alex replied, considering that for a moment. “You know, if you are looking for a new role in my mission, then perhaps we can put your skills to use. Since you have direct experience with not having the abilities you hoped you’d have, I think you would do well talking to and counseling boyfriends and husbands of the various Watchers and Seers. I can see them having problems with the women all having abilities that they don’t, as well as their each having an unhealthy fascination with me. And I mean it’s unhealthy in terms of forming normal relationships. I’d like you to talk to those close to me and hang out with me for a while, so you can get a feel for how I view everyone. Frankly, I’m not crazy about the idea of sleeping with everyone I meet. I’d much rather see them form normal healthy relationships, as well as continue to build their relationships with their friends and families. If you could work as a go between for these women and their partners, it would help each of them. And, if the men can’t adapt to the women’s new lifestyle, you can help the women learn how to relate to men in the future and help the men deal with our culture.”

Diane thought about it for a moment, and then a smile crossed her lips. “You’re right. There are a lot of people who are likely to be having troubles. By dealing with people before problems occur, I may be able to have more of an effect than I do after a couple is already having troubles. Your history with men has never been good, and the fact that your abilities don’t seem to affect men means you’re going to have continuing problems with the men in your organization. I may be able to help the women adapt and include the men in their lives a little more fully. It will be a full time job, but I can see it’s one that needs to be done.”

“We think a lot of Alex’s problems with men are likely due to either a perceived threat,” Cate explained, “or Alex possibly projecting his interests on people.”

“There’s a lot I’ll have to learn about, but I think it’s a useful mission,” Diane said. “I may not be any more successful than I have been, but at least I won’t feel I’m just applying Band-Aids to mortal wounds. Here I’m working on something that’s vital to our whole organization.”

Both Alex and Diane smiled as they considered this. Alex was happy that he’d managed to turn a potentially disappointed woman into a useful facilitator, and Diane was happy that she had her own useful mission, even if she wasn’t a Seer.

“I also observed you’ve decided you’re going to have a boy. Any reason for that confidence?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, I figure I want someone just like you. He doesn’t need to be an angel like you, or whatever you consider yourself to be, but I want him to be as strong, as concerned and as caring as you.”

“And you don’t think a daughter can be like that, because she’ll be more like you, then?” he asked, suspecting she was projecting her own insecurities onto her potential child.

“No, that’s not it,” she answered with authority. “I just feel confident he’s going to be like you, and when he goes to play with his little toy guns I’ll tell him you never needed a gun. That you always tried to avoid fighting unless you didn’t have a choice, and then you tried to heal the people you had to hurt.”

“I take it you’ve heard a little of my history. However I’m not sure you’re going to be able to dissuade a young boy from playing with toy guns, nor a little girl from playing with dolls. I think a few people have tried before, and they generally aren’t very successful. Hell, even gay guys used to play with toy guns, they just sang show tunes while doing so,” Alex joked, trying to take the sting away from his mild criticism.

“My brother, suddenly he’s a childhood development expert,” Cate said, laughing at the idea. “However, he does have very strong opinions, and he’s fairly well read, so he tends to recall a lot of details and is fairly good at understanding people and situations. I think this is one of those cases. Alex continues to amaze everyone because he seems to read people without having the talent the rest of you have to feel someone’s emotions. I think he’s just learned enough about people by studying them in fiction and nonfiction stories, that now he can apply it fairly well.”

“Well, it looks like you have things well in hand once again, and it looks like my fears of your new girls taking all of your attention were well founded,” Patricia noted. “But I’ve got to be getting to my club. As usual, any of you are welcome to attend, although I suspect Alex is going to have more pressing issues to attend to. If you other girls need a distraction while Alex is busy, come have some fun. And Lekesia, I think you should accompany me to the club so we can talk about babies and certain babies’s fathers.”

Lekesia was smart enough to take a hint, so she quickly excused herself and left with Patricia after they gave everyone goodbye hugs. She told her mother she’d meet her in the morning for a ‘talk’. The other girls left as well, leaving Alex with Diane, Noel, Cate and Gail. Shanna told them she’d find a separate hotel room, but that she’d meet them in the morning.

Alex took everyone back to Allison’s place, and he spent a long time with both Diane and Noel, both talking about their issues and showering them with love as well. After having gotten through the previous night without embarrassing himself, he was feeling much more comfortable with his situation. While leaving a bunch of potentially pregnant women behind continued to bother him, it no longer threatened to leave him impotent.

He also managed to show Noel how much he appreciated and cherished her for her own mature beauty, as well as demonstrating to Diane that she was no less valued for having to take a somewhat diminished role in Alex’s pantheon. However, she received a more substantial boost to her abilities as a result.


The next morning Alex awoke to find himself once again surrounded by women, though it took him a few moments to remember who the heck they were. He assumed that Cate was the one spooned against him, since that was the position she always seemed to assume, but he first mistook Noel for Lekesia. Since no one else was awake yet, he extricated himself from his bedmate huddle and snuck off to the bathroom. When he returned he saw it was still early, so he climbed back into bed. Noel, awakened by the sound of his peeing, cuddled up to him, while Cate once again snuggled up behind him.

“How are we feeling this morning?” Alex asked.

“Hmm, I’m feeling pretty good,” Noel answered him. Cate simply hugged him a little tighter in greeting and responded with a little “Umm”. “I’m not sure if I’m pregnant yet, so maybe we have time for another try,” Noel suggested, playing with his chest.

In answer Alex began tracing his finger around her nipple as he kissed her. They kissed for a few moments, Cate reaching around and playing with him out of Noel’s sight, making sure he was ready for anything he may encounter. At least that was the rationale Cate used.

Noel pulled back and looked down while still playing with Alex’s chest.

“Alex, this is a little awkward for me to say, but Lekesia is only 17 while I’m 35. I’m a little worried about whether I might be too old to be having babies. I mean, I know you can generally have your first up to age 40, and a second child even after that, but complications start to arise the older you are. I’m...”

Alex leaned in and kissed her to halt her indecisive mumblings. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t know if it will have any effect, but I’ll try applying some energy to the area. There’s no evidence it will help, but strengthening the area could help.” Cate quietly yanked on his erect cock, indicating she was aware he was spinning tales in order to make her feel better, since Alex was much more shy of using his abilities than that.

“Wow, that would mean a lot to me if you could,” she told him. “I’m concerned about the baby’s health. I know there’s no telling what may or may not happen, but...”

Alex kissed her again, gently rubbed her lower belly, and moved his hand lower, running it over her pussy. He actually applied a little energy, but afterwards he relied on nature’s magic to generate some special feelings in them both. Noel was so thankful for his easing her conscience she purred and returned his kiss. As she began feeling even better, she rolled over and grabbed for his penis, which Cate only barely managed to release in time. Noel was surprised, since she found that guys usually lost their morning erections after they’d peed, but she was pleased to see she could inspire such a reaction in such a young guy despite her being old enough to be his mother. After all, he was only slightly older than her own daughter.

Alex rolled over, separating him and his sister, and began kissing Noel’s neck before moving down to her chest. Noel was loving this moment. Here was a handsome young man, clearly in love with her, showering her with affection and not at all repulsed by her body. Maybe she was young enough for this. After all, she was only 35, there really wasn’t a reason she couldn’t be a mother again. Why, when her new baby was Lekesia’s age...

“Ow!”

“Sorry, I thought your mind was wandering a little. So, are you interested in some oral foreplay, or...”

“Oh, no, I’m already prepped and raring to go. I learned last night how much better having you on top of me is. Frankly, oral sex just doesn’t compare with what we shared last night. I never thought I’d pass up on oral sex, but I’m more than ready right now.”

So Alex moved back up and positioned himself. Diane, who’d woken up while they were moving around, shifted over, disappointed she hadn’t woken a little earlier. Still, she was surprised to find she wasn’t jealous in the least. She knew they loved each other, just as she knew that Alex loved her, so she was happy seeing them enjoying themselves. Given how she now felt, she was convinced jealousy was simply the result of self doubts. The way she felt now, she had no doubts at all.

Alex and Noel began the long slow dance of love as he began gently thrusting into her. She held on and reciprocated, matching him stroke for stroke, swearing she’d keep up with him despite the years that separated them. She was glad he was at least 18, though, as she’d have a hard time justifying herself if she was making love with a... scratch that, she was still making love to a teenager. Just a legal one.

Cate climbed out of bed, running her hand along her brother’s side in a loving gesture. Diane observed she was completely nude. Not only that, but she was clean shaven. Not quite what you’d expect if you were traveling for several days with your brother. However Diane was a bit distracted by Alex and Noel. Cate got up and headed into the kitchen to fix the snack she was sure Alex would need shortly. After all, knowing him, he’d be going for a twofer this morning.

Alex didn’t move any faster than he had the previous night, taking the time to demonstrate his appreciation of the lovely creature he was with, and Noel loved him all the more for it. She could understand his rushing, trying to get as much as he could as soon as possible. After all, Alvin had always done that, always being so excited by Noel that he couldn’t restrain himself. But to have Alex, a young man, want to spend so much time being so intimate with her spoke volumes about him. However, as much as she thought about him, it was hard to think about such things, since the energy she could feel flowing from him into her, filling her with life, energy and excitement, threatened to erase all rational thoughts.

As much as she’d loved her husband Alvin for so many years, she’d never felt anything like this. What she was feeling now didn’t make her love him any less, but it seemed to draw her to Alex that much more. She couldn’t help but love him, and she had more than a niggling feeling she’d feel this way even if he wasn’t such a wonderful individual, so concerned with her and so attentive. She didn’t know whether it was possible to not love an angel. But putting it all together into a unified package just made it all the more wonderful.

Diane was caressing Alex’s back and thigh, whispering something to them both that somehow never managed to penetrate her brain, as obsessed with what was happening to her as Noel was. She felt herself approaching her orgasm, something that rarely happened through intercourse alone. But it quickly overwhelmed her and she shuddered beneath Alex, his energy seeming to increase the shaking in a syncopated rhythm. She finished her cum and quickly began building to another one, something that had only occurred once before, just last night.

As she felt herself succumbing to her second orgasm, Alex didn’t change his pace at all, simply softly kissing her as she quivered beneath him. As the wave crested and she felt a bit of sanity returning, however tenuous it was, Alex began quickening his pace. Noel felt the energy coursing through her increase, and she instantly knew what it meant. She’d felt the same thing the night before. When he got close to cumming the energy he gave off grew in intensity, and as it filled her, it took her back up another notch, and she found herself approaching a third orgasm before she’d even completed her second. But she also knew this one would be much more intense than the last two. She didn’t know if it was the result of what he’d done to her brain last night, but her orgasm last night would be something she’d remember for the rest of her life. It hadn’t seemed real. It was, in short, a transcendental experience. She’d felt like she was with God when it had happened, and it was Alex that she was with. The parallels were more than she could hope to deny.

It wasn’t intentional, but they both came together. She’d been orgasming already, but as Alex began shooting into her it just kicked the orgasm higher yet. But as wonderful as the orgasm was, stronger than any she’d had before, or in fact any she’d heard anyone talk of before, it wasn’t quite the same as the previous night. She supposed she couldn’t expect mind manipulating orgasms every time, but if this was her compromise she’d gladly accept it, since this was a mother of an orgasm. Any time Alex wanted a follow up she’d gladly volunteer, even though she might have to fight her daughter over it.

When it was over, she simply luxuriated in how she felt. She felt more alive, more loved, more open to the world than any time before. Well, other than last night, of course, but then she’d been so out of it she couldn’t really appreciate it. As it was, she continued to weakly clutch him to her, however that was broken when Cate reentered the room, still naked, and pulled Alex away so he could eat and restore his energy. However Noel could understand that, with as much energy as he’d giving off, it was a wonder he could stand at all. It had been like making love to the Hoover Dam power plant. She missed his presence, but she was feeling good enough she could do without his touch for a while.

Afterwards, Diane fit a pillow under her butt, elevating it in the hopes of boosting her pregnancy chances. Noel wanted this pregnancy to stick. She couldn’t picture a more perfect environment to conceive a life in, although she vaguely wondered if Alex had modified her brain during their orgasm, what might he have done to a fetus’ brain?

Gail came in at that point, and prevented Diane from getting a second chance herself when she reminded Alex that he was expected to make a deposit at the fertility clinic, and that his sperm could serve a better purpose helping dozens of people than it would helping one. Diane frowned, but she could hardly complain. Alex looked somewhat relieved, however he did escort her into the shower while Noel let his sperm soak into her uterus.

Alex was in the process of connecting the freckles between Diane’s breasts with his tongue when Patricia contacted him.

Alex, sorry to disturb you, but you need to come down to Jackson Square park, and it needs to be at exactly 7:30,’ she told him.

Oh, what’s happening at the park this morning?’ he asked.

Duh, you should know the answer to that. You asked to activate all the potential Seers we had. It needs to be then, because the police will have trouble getting through the morning traffic to interfere. You’ll also have to come in via the southeast side on the far side of St. Louis Cathedral. I figure if the local beat cops try to bust us up, they’ll figure the action is happening closest to the Cathedral. We’re going to have someone speaking to the Watchers there, so you should have sufficient time to do what you need to do before they realize what’s going on. Be prepared to say a few words, in order to get the Watchers to pretend to listen to a make believe speaker, we promised them they could listen to you via cell phones. But the timing is going to be important.

OK, that makes sense. What about the fertility clinic, though?

Patricia laughed. ‘Send the girls there alone. If you want, Cate can jerk you off in the cab and we’ll have someone run it to Hannah for you. Oh, and one final thing,’ here she paused, and Alex found himself frozen in position over Diane’s chest waiting for her response.

What?’ he finally asked, wondering what it was.

Whatever you do, don’t read the newspaper until you get here. You don’t want to upset yourself. You’ll need to be relaxed, because you won’t know what might happen. I’ve got to go, though, so I’ll talk to you later.’

Alex tried to say goodbye but she was already gone. Alex realized he was still frozen in place in front of a delicious pair of wet erect nipples.

“Talking to someone?” Diane asked, seeing him responding to her once more.

“Yeah, we’ll probably have to hurry. We need to get downtown soon, and I know I’m going to need a full breakfast beforehand. She says to expect trouble, so there might be some running around to escape exposure.”

“Well, shit, let’s get you out of here. I’m clean enough. You’ve been washing my breasts for the last ten minutes. Go ahead and head out. I’ll stay in here just so you can finish up faster.”

“She said you and Noel should head to the clinic on your own,” he told her as he climbed out of the shower. “Tell Dr. Lampre I’ll send my deposit over later.”

Diane laughed at his retreating form. “Ah, the life of the busy Angel, never a spare moment for a quick solitary masturbation.”

When Alex exited the bathroom Cate and Gail were waiting for him. Gail was dressed and waiting, while Cate was busy pulling her jeans on. Noel was sitting up watching everyone.

“You’ll need to get in the shower,” Alex told Noel as Gail handed him his clothes. “I suspect you’ve waited long enough. We’ve got to be heading out soon.”

Alex fought the rising dread developing in him over the non-news about the newspaper. He knew that meant that Mr. Rodriguez’s column featuring him had already hit the stand. But as much as he was worried about what it might say, he was even more concerned about what kind of reaction it would cause throughout the city. Connecting that reaction to a mob scene in a public place might make for a very dicey situation. He had no doubt that many people knew what he looked like. After all, a lot of people had seen him before, many of them non-followers. There were also the several videos of him on the internet. They’d done a good job of obscuring those references, but he was sure people would make the connection if the public became inflamed about what was reported about him. He was tempted to read the paper just for that alone, but he trusted Patricia. If she advised him not to read it he’d heed that advice.

He told the two girls what he knew as Gail held his shirt open for him and Cate proceeded to button his shirt for him. They simply nodded, so he guessed Gail had already told his sister most of it. They headed out, calling back to Diane and Noel to catch up with them. Alex told Cate to get the paper, but not to read it or show it to him until they’d finished in the park. She simply nodded, so he knew she’d do what he’d asked.

Shanna, Lekesia and Mattie were waiting for them when they entered the dining room. They had breakfast waiting, so Alex assumed Patricia had once again taken care of every last detail. He sat down and began eating right away, while Lekesia asked where her mother was, then asked how she did before waiting for an answer. In response Alex simply motioned to the entrance to the dining room, just as Diane and Noel entered. Alex wasn’t fooled, though, he knew they’d likely been talking quite a bit already. In fact he was surprised they hadn’t stayed up all night discussing it.

They finished up in plenty of time. Alex was about to suggest a walk, then reconsidered remembering people might be out on the street looking for him this morning. Walking around with a cadre of beautiful women would be too obvious to miss. Instead, Cate took him into the men’s room where she prettied him up, fixing his jacket and combing his hair just right. She finally kissed him while grabbing his crotch.

“I know things are busy here in New Orleans, but you’re going to have to find some spare time for Gail and me because we’re both dying to spend some time with you. I can’t make a move on you and she feels like she has to be on duty all the time, so we’re both feeling a bit neglected.”

Alex kissed her back and gave her a nice hug. “I know. Sorry about that. If I could avoid it, I’d be spending all my time with you. I don’t think things will be as crazy once we leave the city, but it will be like it was on the road earlier this week. Hopefully we can get a nice quiet hotel room and hide away, although there will likely be Seers to activate or boost then, too. You may have to just bite the bullet and just ignore everyone’s reactions. A lot of people have already guessed about us anyway, so I don’t think anyone would react too negatively. No one seems to hold me to the same rules they hold everyone else to.”

“There is that,” she acknowledged as they both headed to the door, holding each other. “Although I’d hate to disillusion any of your followers just because I couldn’t keep it in your pants.”

Just as they were leaving, Alex got another telepathic call.

Alex, are you there?’ asked a voice he couldn’t place. Telepathic voices aren’t like normal voices, especially with children, who speak with adult telepathic voices. Thus he didn’t know who was contacting him.

I’m always here, just ask and I’ll always hear you. Sorry, but I don’t recognize the voice, who am I talking with?

Oh, sorry. This is Debbie Grant. We...

Yeah, I remember you. I’m not likely to ever forget you, cutie,’ Alex replied, remembering her face glancing back at him in her parent’s rear view mirror. ‘What’s up? How have your parents handled your abilities so far?’ asked Alex, pulling Cate aside, standing by the sink while he was talking to Debbie.

Not well,’ she told him. ‘They’ve been acting crazy. That’s why I’m calling. Mom is taking me to the doctor to figure out why I’m seeing things.

That doesn’t sound good,’ Alex told her as he mouthed ‘Debbie’ to Cate. She nodded that she understood. ‘Look, whatever you do you can’t admit to the doctor what you see. Just deny everything. As far as the doctor is concerned, you were just playing with your parents.

OK. I’ll try,’ she answered doubtfully.

You probably haven’t had much experience with lying to adults. I’ll tell you what, when you get there, contact me and I’ll walk you through it. Just think about what everyone is saying, and I should be able to follow the conversation. I’ll tell you what to say. Our communication is instant, so they shouldn’t notice.

OK, I’m still nervous about it, but I’ll feel better if you’re there with me. I hate lying about lying, though. And Mom is going to get angry.

That’s likely, but there isn’t much you can do about it. I’ll talk you through that as well,’ Alex told her. She thanked him, and Alex quickly told Cate what the conversation had been about.

As they exited the men’s room Cate and Alex passed a middle aged couple entering the restrooms, both of whom stopped and stared at Cate as they watched her exiting the men’s room.

“Don’t worry,” she told them. “He’s only my brother. It’s OK.” They both laughed as they ran back into the restaurant, enjoying the shocked expressions on the people’s faces. But the incident reminded them both of the reason for Cate’s reluctance.

It was clear that Noel and Lekesia had been talking about them, since they were both giggling. Luckily they stopped when Alex entered the room, saving him and Cate from any teasing. Everyone took a few more minutes preparing before they finally exited the restaurant. Alex kissed Diane, Noel and Lekesia. Lekesia was accompanying her mother because they were anxious to talk more, plus they wanted to examine Lekesia in detail to see if they could detect any early signs of life. They were each aware that Shani had been pregnant for almost nine days before anyone noticed because no one had thought to look, so everyone was anxious to figure out when a fetus’s aura would first be detectable. No one expected it would occur this soon, but they wanted to be sure.

Alex was thoughtful on the drive over to the park. He needed to say something, and he had never been much of a speaker. He had delivered that speech at his graduation, so he knew he could speak to a large group of people, but then he had Cate’s help in writing the gist of what he had to say. Now there simply wasn’t enough time. He had to figure it out on the fly.

When they drove up they could see a congregation of people, though it appeared to be at the other end of the park. The people nearby were scattered to the sides so they weren’t obviously waiting. As the cab stopped, Alex quickly climbed out, hurrying forward so he could do whatever needed to be done as quickly as possible. The others exited the cab and paid the tab at their own pace.

As Alex entered the park, Patricia, who’d noticed him getting out of his cab, began organizing people so the potential Seers were waiting for him when he approached. He tried to keep his eyes down, though that was difficult as he tried to figure out where to head. He was sure he accidentally activated a few, but that couldn’t be helped. The main point here was to activate everyone. If it happened accidentally, it was OK, as long as it occurred. However it was also clear Alex would have to make serious eye contact with each one. What Lekesia had discovered yesterday proved that Alex had to establish them in his own memory in order to allow them to all have their own telepathic abilities.

When Alex reached Patricia everyone grew deathly silent. He raised his eyes and slowly panned across the collected women, making definitive eye contact with each and every one. Several of the women reacted typically, jerking back, but Alex ignored that as he tried to establish a quick mental connection with each one. The whole process only took several moments, and then he collected himself and started speaking.

“Thanks for meeting me here for this. I know it’s awkward, as I normally like to do this on a personal basis. However, the number of you involved and the potential for trouble meant we had to move quickly. I hope to speak to each of you individually, and if I can’t, please be aware that you can communicate with me telepathically whenever you feel the need to. Just be aware you may have to remind me who you are, as I may not have a face to associate with your mental voice initially.”

The women anxiously listened to every word he said. He could also hear someone making a speech from the other end of the park, but it was too far away to distinguish their words, as Alex was sure they were trying to avoid drawing the attention they were trying to divert. He also noticed that Patricia was holding her cell phone near him to capture what he was saying.

“There’s a lot you’ll need to know, although I’m sure Patty has already explained much of it. There are several people you’ll have to get to know as well. The most important, initially, is Allison, who will help you learn how to interpret these new visions of yours.” At this point he had Allison make a brief comment to all of them, and many of them noticeably reacted, this being their first telepathic communication. He went on to introduce several others, including Shani, his first follower, Anh, one of his most loyal followers and one who always had a distinct perspective. He wanted to allow each of these women to become familiar with the newbies, so they could establish their own connections to follow up with them. That way the New Orleans contingent would be covered even without his assistance, and they could train them independently over the coming week. Finally he introduced Gail, telling them to contact her with any potential security problems, reminding them there would likely be many people who felt threatened by him, or by the whole movement.

“I also want to speak about that movement for a moment. This is about people. I don’t want any of you to think of this as winning a race. There are no Seers, Watchers and ‘normal people’. Instead there are people who are aware of us, those that can be trusted, and those that you have to be careful of. We are all equal in this, and it’s your job, with your unique talents, to help each of your Sisters. You can use your abilities to identify who to trust and who not to. Other people don’t have that ability, and they need your assistance. Use that ability carefully, extending it even to those who don’t know about me. If you do, you’ll find that people gradually come to trust your judgment. But always keep in mind how receptive people will be. Many will need to be brought around slowly. Some will never be ready to learn about your new life.

“But don’t abandon old friends, because right now we need as many friends as we can get. We’re a very small community, and if we suddenly face opposition we’ll need people who will support us. Prove yourselves to be trusted friends, both of each other, and of those you meet, so each of those people will be willing to speak highly of you, of your honor, your commitment to others, and of your overall trustworthiness. These traits will be our best defense in a hostile world. Friendship is a vital tool, not something to turn away because someone might not understand what you’re going through. Most of all, if you are unsure what to do or where to turn, reach out. You have many sisters of all stripes that are more than willing to help you out or to lend assistance. Take that into account. Utilize Peter, Dave and Darice, as well as the Angel Vision foundation in Carbondale.”

In the distance, Alex could see a uniformed cop approaching the group speaking near the Cathedral, so he knew he had little time. He’d have to hurry.

“The biggest thing we’ve got to do in the coming months is to increase our core group. That means talking to friends, family, or anyone who appears may carry the traits you and your sisters share. But beyond that, we also need to include normal people as well. That’s where your friends come in. We need friendly faces and supportive friends, both male and female. Each friend you make could potentially become someone who is willing to help defend us in our hour of need. You need to nurture such friendships like a tiny plant; it needs careful consideration and tending. They won’t appreciate what you’re doing or why you’re doing it, but hopefully, over time, they’ll come to realize how important it is, and what you, and what you represent, mean to their lives and to others as well.

“Now, I’d love to stay and talk, but I see we have company coming, so I’d better be moving. In case you aren’t aware of it, a recent column has identified me to the public, so I don’t dare spend much time where I can be easily identified for a while. I hope to meet each of you, either in the next few days or, at worst, someday. But know that I deeply care for each and every one of you, and I cherish what you represent, both to me and to your fellow sisters.”

The policeman, now accompanied by another, had already broken up the meeting at the other end of the park and was already dispersing the participants. Alex noticed the one cop glancing in their direction, so he knew he had to be moving. However, instead of leaving he walked into the group of women and began hugging as many as he could. They each clustered around him, each trying to show him how much they thought of him in a quick physical connection, but soon they started pushing him away, concerned about his exposure. He took that as the final sign he couldn’t stay any longer, so he turned and walked briskly to the edge of the park where Gail and the others held a waiting cab. The entire event had taken only a few minutes. They’d essentially created a flash mob, did what needed to be done, said what needed to be said, and now it was time to get the hell out of there.

He hoped whoever was acting as the speaker wouldn’t get into too much trouble. He knew it took weeks to organize a public event, and for as much as Americans talked about freedom of speech, it wasn’t unlimited. It took money, time and effort to be able to speak, and no government organization trusted anyone speaking unless they could be observed as they did it. Governments rose and fell on the basis of free communications, thus those in government didn’t trust them, just as they didn’t trust the very people they supposedly served. They’d likely file fines for an illegal gathering and for not applying for permits.

They climbed into the cab, Alex watching the scene as they sped away. As soon as the park disappeared from sight, he addressed Cate.

“OK, who’s got the paper? I need to see what it says.”

Cate reluctantly handed him the latest issue of the Times-Picayune Newspaper. He didn’t know if she’d looked at it, but he doubted she had, since he’d specifically asked her not to for fear she’d reveal what it said simply by her reactions to him.

Unfolding the paper, he quickly found the column under a banner headline in bold black ink.

“The Angel of New Orleans Returns,” it read. Alex groaned. This wasn’t sounding very promising. He proceeded to read the article aloud so the others would know what it contained.

“The long rumored Angel of New Orleans, which I reported on some months back, has finally returned to New Orleans. Word had spread amongst his many followers here that he was coming, although they are a very closed group. It was only by carefully watching and listening that we learned where he was to appear. A certain local celebrity was putting on a private concert for him, and I have no doubt he delivered a sermon of some sort, though the doors were closed and carefully watched so I wasn’t able to learn what unfolded there or what weird ceremonies might have unfolded. However, I was able to catch the young man as he exited the secret meeting, and surprisingly he was relatively free with information for a change.

“As some of you may be aware, I’ve spoken to him previously, and as he did before, he specifically told me that he desires no fame, recognition nor publicity of any kind. However, as this is slowly becoming an organized element of New Orleans, I feel obligated to report on it, even if I don’t reveal the name of the individual or of the entertainer who appeared to be behind the secret meeting.

“What he told me was quite interesting, and you may have as much trouble believing it as I did, as the idea of an Angel visiting the earth is a bit of a stretch in the best of times. According to the Bible, there is to be only one messenger from God scheduled to visit the earth, and he isn’t planned to appear until near the end times, when Christ returns to the earth. I don’t think that is the case here, but each of you may have your own opinion on that topic.

“The first thing he told me, for the second time, is that he is, in fact, no angel. The surprising thing is that he’s not even religious. He claims to be an avowed atheist. However, he said that God did in fact speak through him, and he speculated about the reasons for that.

“He claimed that this is not a local event, as I had previously reported, but is a worldwide phenomenon, though one that is being done in secret. It seems there are a number of select individuals, scattered throughout the world, who the true Angel visits at random occurrences. She goes by the name of Alexandria, though he had no idea of where to find her or how to contact her, claiming she would simply show up whenever she needed to reveal anything to him.

“She supposedly instructed him that he’d know what to do when he met someone he was to ‘reach out to’, and that she’d grant him the ability to do miraculous things, even if he didn’t realize what he was doing or how he was accomplishing it. Being a prior atheist, he tended to explain things in very sectarian terms.

“An example of this occurred just as I caught up to him. He encountered a blind woman walking with the help of her guide dog and her sister. He laid hands upon her, causing her sight to return, despite her having been blind since childhood. I literally saw this woman running down the street, moving in and out of people, avoiding obstacles. It certainly didn’t appear to have been staged, and as skeptical as I am, I tend to believe it actually occurred just as I’m describing it.

“After he performed this miraculous event we talked. He informed me that this Alexandria sought out select individuals from a variety of faiths, mainly because God had given up on organized religion, just as Jesus had ignored the established religion of his time. Thus she specifically chose members of each faith, including an atheist in this case.

“He also said he’s unique in that he’s the only male in a predominately female organization. I don’t know what they plan on doing with or to the men in their lives, but it sounds like they disapprove of how the men have organized religion over the past several millennia.”

“It goes on to describe my little trick of having everyone call him,” Alex said, summarizing as he scanned over the rest of the article. “He gets a lot of facts wrong, but at least he left Patricia and my names out of it, which is something. So what does everyone think?”

“It doesn’t sound so bad,” Cate offered. “He doesn’t flat out call you a nut case, and he doesn’t actually call you the antichrist, although he reminds everyone that it’s a possibility.”

“Oh shit,” Alex added. “At the bottom he lists a webpage for a link the paper is sponsoring showing what I did to Mattie.”

“That’s not good,” Gail quietly observed.

“No, we’ve got to get a computer and see just what it reveals,” Alex said. “If it shows us in any detail we’ll be in trouble soon. We won’t be able to show our faces around town without attracting a crowd.”

“I don’t see how it couldn’t,” Gail replied. “I don’t know who was filming it, but you were standing right there in open sight of everyone. If everyone can recognize you, we may need...” she started to say as Cate, smiling, handed Alex her ever ready iPad. Alex blushed but turned his attention to the device. He started it up and opened the paper’s website to find the link. Everyone else leaned over to watch as the video began playing. They all recognized the scene, but luckily it was shot from a distance, so the faces were largely indistinct. However the actions and much of the speech were fairly clear.

It only caught Mattie midway across the intersection, after she’d left Roger behind and was running between people trying to catch up to Alex. It also caught her collapsing at his feet, and her loud proclamations of what he’d done for her. But it also didn’t show the interview with the reporter, though Alex couldn’t tell if it had been edited by the paper or whether the cameraman had simply quit after the initial scene. He figured he’d learn the next day when Rodriguez continued his article.

Alex was relieved. This wasn’t so damaging he’d have to avoid going outside, but it was liable to cause questions. What sort of questions, and how it may or may not impact him, was something they’d have to see.



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Catalyst 3 - Chapter10