 

Chapter 4
 
 
 
            The trio settled in to get some sleep, none of them certain
what the next day would bring.  Terri settled into Andrew’s old bed,
while he and Charli took the master bedroom, snuggling together in
support and love.  Andrew’s dreams were fitful; terrifying images
passed before his mind’s eye, and he tossed and turned in his sleep. 
Twice he awoke, half out of his mind from fear, but only found a
sleeping lady beside him.
 
            He flopped himself back down after the second awakening,
and then looked at the clock.  It was five-thirty, the sun was still
over an hour away.  He got up anyway, moving quietly so he wouldn’t
wake up Charli.  He padded out to the kitchen, and made himself a bowl
of cereal.  He sat there, munching absently on his breakfast, his mind
mulling over both his horrid dreams, and what he was going to do about
his mother and cousin.  He knew he had to get Rachel’s help.  He
certainly didn’t feel ready to handle this alone.
 
            He didn’t hear the soft footfalls behind him.  He didn’t
hear the light sigh.  He did, however, feel the soft hands that slipped
along his skin as feminine arms embraced him from behind.  He jumped
slightly at the first touch, but then settled as Charli’s body rested
lightly against his back, her arms wrapped around his neck, and her
cheek resting on the top of his head.  He took the moment to relax his
thoughts, to center on what was going on in his immediate
surroundings.  It came as a shock to him that the sun was just now
peeking over the horizon: he had been absently eating his breakfast for
well over an hour, without noticing its sogginess.
 
            He dropped the spoon in the bowl, and sat back slightly. 
Charli adjusted without moving, her breasts now cushioning the back of
his head.  He closed his eyes, almost hoping he would fall asleep there
in her arms, but as soon as his lids came together, the horrifying
sights of the dreams returned, and his eyes snapped back open.  He
could feel his heart racing, his pulse pounding in his ears.  He knew
that the dreams were related to the predicament his family was in, but
they made no sense in and of themselves.
 
            He rose from the chair, careful not to jostle Charli.  She
stepped back to let him up, but came to him as his arms invited her. 
She was wearing one of his mother’s negligees, short and diaphanous, in
light pink.  It suited her so perfectly, and he felt the need to just
hold onto her as long as he could.  They stood in the middle of the
kitchen, not saying a word, just breathing together, feeling together,
and, though they both tried to mask it, terrified together.
 
            At last, the embrace had to end.  Charli gently slipped
from his hold, looking up at him tenderly.
 
            “You didn’t sleep well.  I heard you tossing and turning,
and once you screamed out.”
 
            “Yeah, well, that doesn’t count the twice I was woken up
with nightmares.”
 
            She looked at him with concern.  “Is there anything wrong? 
I mean, besides your mom and the other lady?”
 
            He shook his head.  “No, but that’s bad enough.  It’s going
to be a rough day.  And I have to go meet Rachel sometime today, too.”
 
            “Rachel…” she tried to dredge a memory up, but this early
in the morning, it was a futile effort.
 
            “My magic instructor.  I’ve always gone to see her on
Saturday, and anyway, I’m going to need her help to rescue Mom and
Cheryl.”
 
            “Oh.  What do you want me to do while you’re gone?”
 
            His face contorted in confusion.  “What do you mean?”
 
            She looked down at her feet.  “Do you want me to go home?” 
She twisted her foot in a very cute impression of an eight-year-old. 
He was sure she was unaware that she was doing it.
 
            He reached out to her.  “I’d rather you *never* went home,
Charli, but I don’t think we can manage that.  But I’d like you to stay
here at least until I get back… if you can manage it, I’d like it if
you could stay until this whole thing blows over, with Mom and Cheryl,
I mean.”
 
            She looked into his eyes, seeing the sincerity and love
there.  She hugged him again.  “I will.  I can make something up for my
parents.  My mom’s the only one who’ll care, anyway.”
 
            “Okay.  I need to take a nice, cool shower, or I’m never
going to wake up today.  Why don’t you get yourself some breakfast? 
It’s going to be a long day.”
 
            She kissed him softly before letting him go, and then she
watched him go back down the hallway before she looked for something to
make for breakfast.
 
 
 
            Andrew emerged from the bedroom, having fully dressed after
a long, cold shower.  He was awake and alert, though hardly rested.  He
nearly ran into his father, who was carrying his exhausted sister into
her bedroom.  Jayce laid her down on the bed, and then looked at Andrew.
 
            “Are you satisfied?  Look what you’ve done to her!  How
could you do this to your own sister?”
 
            Andrew looked at his father with little emotion.  “I don’t
know, *pop*.  How could you beat your wife for nine years?  How could
you break your own son’s arm?  How could my own sister tell every girl
in school that I was a pervert so that none of them would go out with
me?  How could both of you treat mom and me like second-class
citizens?  You’re only upset because you’re on the receiving end now. 
If it had been Mom I was doing all this to, you wouldn’t have given a
shit.  So, live with it.  Oh, and, by the way, not that I think you’ll
give a damn for one minute, but Mom and Cheryl have been kidnapped.”
 
            “What?” said Joannie, rousing herself to a sitting
position.  Her legs splayed across the bed, too sore to be closed.  She
didn’t care about her lewd position anymore.  Her clothes had long
since disappeared; to where, she had no clue.
 
            “Someone trying to get something out of me that they want. 
Reminds me a lot of you two.  Don’t worry, I’ll have both of them back
by the end of the day.  Just like you, I’m going to teach them why they
should not have fucked with me.”  He looked at his sister, her legs
spread, her pussy was clearly red and sore from its pounding.  “Enjoy
yourself last night, sis?”  His eyes gleamed with vicious hatred.  Her
blush reached all the way down to her tits.
 
            His father held out his hand.  “Here’s the money she
made.”  Andrew took it, counted it, and handed it back.  Jayce looked
at him in shock.  “Don’t you want it?”
 
            “Of course not.  I’m not her pimp.  You were.”
 
            “Then what was the point…” he couldn’t find the words to
complete the sentence.
 
            “The point was to show the world what a slut and what trash
my sister is.  You think her friends at school don’t *already* know
about what she did last night?  I guarantee someone she knew saw her. 
And that someone spread the word like a fire before a wind.  By Monday,
everyone in the school will know that my sister is a hooker.  And they
might even know how cheap a tramp she is, too.”
 
            “Ohmigod,” she muttered.  “Kenny…”  She slumped back in the
bed.  Andrew nodded.
 
            “One of your customers, was he?”  Kenny was a kid from
their school, but he was not part of either of their circles of
friends.  He was, however, someone who knew the football players.  Word
would be out, for sure.  Andrew grinned.  “Well, I’ll leave you two to
contemplate your fate.  Jayce, you are released from your quarter
punishment.  Unlike you, I don’t want to actually hurt my family
physically.  Mentally is good enough,” he said, his voice turning dark
and foreboding.  He gave a few silent orders to them both, and then
left.
 
            On his way out, he heard Joannie sob.  It bothered him not
one bit.
 
 
 
            For the next few hours, Andrew and Charli talked on the
couch.  They tried to keep the conversation light and trivial, but
every once in a while, they would both pause, and the silence would
consume them, and their dark thoughts would come rushing in at them. 
It was at this point that Charli would reach for Andrew’s hand, and
they would sit for a moment in quiet contemplation of the events of the
past day.  It was a hell of a way to spoil a beautiful night, Andrew
thought.
 
            Finally, it was late enough in the day for him to go see
Rachel.  He kissed Charli and Terri, and asked Charli to wait for him. 
She promised to do so, and then he was off.
 
            He drove slowly to Rachel’s house, wondering how he could
ask her for help.  She’d already saved his own hide once, and she’d
really gotten nothing back from him yet.  It seemed to be a very
one-sided relationship so far.
 
            When he got to her house, he found the elderly lady on the
porch again.
 
            “Rachel is not home right now,” the old woman said
distractedly.
 
            Andrew sensed trouble.  “Is something wrong, ma’am?”
 
            The old woman looked up into his eyes.  “Rachel *should be
*home right now.  She said she would be back at ten.  She’s never late.”
 
            “Oh.  Well, maybe she got stuck in traffic or something.” 
It was a lame excuse, and the old woman looked at him as if he’d just
said the sky was orange.  “May I wait with you?  I do need to speak
with her.”
 
            The old woman nodded slightly, and he took a seat on a
bench across from her.  They both stared out at the road, waiting,
hoping to see Rachel drive up.
 
            Neither of them said a word for the half-hour it took for
her to come home.  Suddenly, she came barreling around the corner,
headed for the driveway.  There was a car in close pursuit.  She
swerved onto the grass, since Andrew was parked in the driveway, and
jumped out of the car.  The pursuers skidded to a stop in front of the
driveway, and hopped out.  There were three of them.
 
            Rachel raced up the porch.  “They’re too strong for me!  I
had all I could do to get away!”  The old lady looked very concerned,
but made no move to do anything about it.  Andrew, on the other hand,
was immediately on his feet.  There was something strangely familiar
about these men, though he was sure he’d never seen them before.
 
            He stepped down off the porch, as the men fanned out, but
kept coming.  Suddenly, Andrew raised his hands and screamed, “Ebillit
sacmit senorem!”
 
            Instantly, a gathering cloud of energy emitted a burst of
lightning.  Landing amid the three attackers, it blew them off their
feet and to the ground.  The three rose, stunned.  They had not
expected such power.  

            As they returned to their car, one of them turned to him
and said, “You have until midnight, Kelly!  Or they both die!”  Any
retort would have been lost in the squeal of tires as they peeled out
down the road.
 
            Andrew remembered now why they seemed familiar to him. 
They had looked similar to some people he had seen in his dreams.  He
wondered if Cheryl had been trying to tell him where they were.  It was
too late for that now: he would find them at midnight.
 
            As his hands lowered, he found Rachel at his side.  She was
as white as a ghost.  “I didn’t teach you that spell!”
 
            He smiled at her.  “No, Cheryl did.  Seemed like a good
time to practice it.”
 
            “I’ll say.  Thanks.”  She kissed him on the cheek, and then
said, “Let’s go on back to the garden.  I’m not sure what I have left
to teach you, but I’m sure we’ll find something.”  Her eyes twinkled
with a secret that he didn’t bother trying to decipher.  She’d let him
in on it soon enough, he was sure.
 
 
 
            For the next hours, Andrew half-listened to Rachel’s
lessons.  She saw the distracted look on his face, but mistook it for
something that it wasn’t.  She had shown him how to use a small
dimensional fold as a portable storage closet, and he spent a while
getting used to how things were carried inside it, how to find them
again, and how to pull them back quickly when they were needed.  His
thoughts fumbled a time or two, and one object, luckily not of any
value, was damaged.
 
            “You’re not focusing!” she scolded him.  “This won’t work
if your attention isn’t on it!”  She took a deep breath.  He was about
to say something, but she interrupted him.  “Okay, let’s move on to a
different exercise, shall we?”  She centered her thoughts, and began a
chant.  He recognized it as a spell of protection for the room.  She
was making it rather thick, he thought.
 
            “Okay,” she finally said.  “That should do it, I hope. 
Now, we worked with smaller balls of fire energy the last time.  This
time, I want you to just use a ball of pure magical force, and direct
it at that wall.  Make it as strong as you can… on second thought,
please try not to bring the walls in on us.”  She smiled at him in
encouragement.  He nodded, and turned his thoughts to the spell.
 
            His mind went over and over the words to this particular
spell, and his hands came up automatically.  Suddenly, a blast of blue
light flew from his hands, the ball of energy leaping toward the wall. 
It flared brightly against Rachel’s protections for only a second
before it burned clear through them.  It began attacking the wall
before Andrew thought to dissipate it.  As soon as the thought had
flashed into his mind, the ball of energy was gone.
 
            Rachel was staring at him.  He hadn’t thought she could
grow paler than she had been outside.  He was wrong.  Her eyes were
wide open, with either fright or awe, he couldn’t be sure.
 
            “How…  How did you do that?” she asked shakily, stepping
back just slightly from him.
 
            “Do what?  You told me to use a magical energy ball, that’s
what I gave you.  Sorry if it was a little strong…”
 
            “But you never said the spell!” she almost screamed.
 
            “Huh?  Didn’t I?  Oh.  Well, I mean, I said it in my head,
I thought for sure the words came out…  I guess they didn’t.  Is that
bad?”
 
            She slumped down to the floor, sitting there, staring up at
him.  “Did Cheryl teach you that, too?”
 
            “Teach me *what*?” he asked in exasperation.
 
            “You’ve… you’ve learned to internalize the magic.  You
don’t have to say the spells anymore.  I’ve *never* known a magician
who could do that!”
 
            “Oh,” he answered, sitting down beside her.  “Is that bad?”
he asked again.
 
            “*Bad?*” she asked incredulously.  “It means you’re *far*
more powerful than I gave you credit for!  I’m a piss-ant compared to
you!  There’s nothing more you can learn from me, Andrew.”
 
            “Rachel… I’m still a novice.  Maybe the strength is there,
but I don’t know how to use it.  I still need you.”
 
            She looked at him, realizing that the look she had been
seeing all day was something she had misinterpreted.  “What’s wrong?”
 
            “Those guys that were after you.”
 
            “What about them?”
 
            “They have my mom, and Cheryl.  They want the ring.  I’m
sure they were after you so that you wouldn’t be able to help me.”
 
            “Christ, Andrew!  What have we been doing here all day,
then?”
 
            “Because I needed the training!” he answered hotly. 
Calming, he said, “I’m supposed to meet them at midnight for the
exchange.  I was hoping you’d come with me, to help fight them.”
 
            She laughed softly.  “Asking me to help you is like adding
a drop of water to Lake Superior, but I’ll be there for you.”
 
            He looked at her for a moment, realizing that he had
somehow shaken her confidence in herself.  “Rachel, you know something
about a single drop of water?”
 
            “What’s that?”
 
            “If the lake’s already full, that single drop will make it
overflow.”  He materialized one of her soft rugs beneath them, and he
leaned over her.  His lips touched hers as she laid back on the furry
throw rug.  His hand slid down to her ass, cupping it through the
denim.  His tongue pressed in, forcing her lips apart.  Her tongue
waited within, greeting its visitor wetly.
 
            His hand slid back up her body, cupping one breast outside
her shirt.  She sighed softly into his mouth.  He wasted little time in
unbuttoning her blouse.  Then he reached in and caressed the smooth
skin of her breast directly.  She moaned now, arching her back to press
her tit into him, all resistance forgotten, she was urging him to hurry
now.
 
            He pulled the tails of her blouse out of her jeans, and
yanked it back off her shoulders.  He broke their kiss so that she
could sit up enough to get it off her arms.  Meanwhile, he was removing
her boots and socks.  As she got the blouse removed and tossed away, he
reached up and undid her jeans.  She was so aroused that she was
already lifting her hips and pushing at the pants, getting them past
her hips so he could pull them down and off her legs.  Now she wore
only red lacy panties, the only splash of color in her wardrobe.  He
wondered how many guys had gotten the chance to know that she didn’t
wear *all* black.
 
            Deftly, he slid the lacy garment off her hips.  Her pubic
hair was nearly nonexistent, and her pussy glistened with its wetness. 
It didn’t take him long to have the red fabric join the rest of her
clothing, and he was on top of her.  His hands roamed her naked flesh,
groping and massaging her tits as she cried out in pleasure and
squirmed beneath his touch.
 
            It wasn’t long before he began removing his own clothes,
which he did in record time.  He seemed to have removed them in a flash
to her, then she realized that he very well might have.  Her thoughts
returned to the now naked body above her, and she felt nothing but
pure, wanton lust for him.  Her eyes conveyed this message clearly, her
legs parting wide to allow him access.
 
            “Fuck me!” she cried in excitement.
 
            Andrew slipped the head of his cock slowly into her pussy. 
He felt the velvety glove of her hole encase him, massaging his prick
and trying to pull him farther into her.  He pressed in smoothly,
without going too fast, but there was no hesitation.  She was already
straining beneath him, trying to get him to move more quickly.  He
decided to taunt her.
 
            “What do you want, little one?” he said in a mock-sage
voice.
 
            “I want you to fuck me *now*!” she screamed.
 
            “What do we say?”
 
            “PLEASE!  Please, oh god, please fuck my cunt until my head
swims!  I’ll do anything, just FUCK ME!”
 
            “Anything?” he asked mischievously, moving just slightly
inside her.  He could tell she was not playing, but he was having fun.
 
            “Yes, anything!  What do you want from me?  I will give you
my soul if you will just fuck me!”
 
            “I don’t need your soul, only your loyalty,” he said,
somewhat serious.
 
            “You have it!  I will do anything you ask, at any time, for
any reason!  I will sacrifice my life at your very whim!  Please, just
fuck me!”
 
            “Very well, little one,” he concluded, figuring he’d
tortured her enough.  He slammed himself into her and she screamed in
her first orgasm.  She bucked and writhed below him, but he didn’t stop
for her.  He continued thrusting into her, each lunge met with a cry
and a squeezing of her cunt muscles.  He was enjoying watching her tits
roll on her chest as her body succumbed to its own pleasures.
 
            She passed through her first orgasm only to find herself
met with a series of smaller orgasms.  His thrusts continued to arouse
her further, and when each of his hands grasped a tit and stroked, her
mind exploded in lights of joy.  Her vision was long past blurry, and
her head was not swimming, but drowning in a sea of orgasm.  She could
no longer utter intelligible phrases.  All that came from her mouth was
“ungh!”, and it repeated frequently.
 
            Andrew pulled out of her, but gave her no time to protest. 
He rolled her over, and propped her up on her knees.  She hissed as his
cock sank back into her waiting twat, again slamming into her with his
full weight.  She was back in paradise, her mind overcome with the
bliss of the sensation.  She had never felt this before, it was as if
every neuron were sending an overloaded pleasure signal to her brain,
and it was trying to interpret them all at once.  Her screams returned
full force as he pounded her pussy, shaking her body and causing her
nipples to rub across the fur of the throw rug.  Her body was on fire
and her brain was crackling with sexual energy.
 
            Andrew looked down at her back, and then at her ass cheeks
as he hammered into her.  He pulled her cheeks apart with his hands, to
see his dick slipping in and out of her cunt.  He noticed the little
rosebud of her ass, and wondered if she had given him that with the
rest of her body.
 
            He pulled his cock out of her, and immediately pressed the
head of it to her asshole.  He pushed, hard, into her, and kept up the
pressure as he started to slip in.
 
            “Oh, GOD!” she screamed in one long, guttural cry, her back
arching as she pushed back onto his dick.
 
            It didn’t take long before he was buried in her ass, and he
wasted no time before beginning his movement.  He didn’t want to hurt
her, so he started with small, gentle thrusts, but she loosened up, and
he began to ram into her ass with the same fury he had shown her pussy.
 
            Her cries deteriorated into, “Ah! Ahh!  Ahh!”  He reached
down and grabbed her swinging tits, feeling the hot points of her
nipples poking his palms.  He used them to help force her back onto
him, and she came again.  Her orgasm ran rampant through her body, her
back arching as her ass spasmed around his dick.  He continued
thrusting into her, but he felt his climax was also approaching.  He
reached beneath her and strummed her clit with his fingers.
 
            Rachel’s world turned into a bright, white light of pure
pleasure.  She could see and hear nothing, but she felt the biggest
orgasm of her life.  An ear-splitting scream escaped her throat and
echoed around the room.  Her pussy was contracting on a cock no longer
there.  Her ass was likewise contracting, and it seized upon Andrew’s
cock and wouldn’t let go.
 
            The squeezing was more than he could take, and Andrew blew
his load deep into her ass.  This sent her even higher, and her mind
simply blew a circuit breaker.  With one final scream of ecstasy,
Rachel passed out beneath him.  With a final thrust to finish off his
own orgasm, he pulled out from her ass, and lay down beside her, to
rest.
 
 
 
            It was a solid hour before either of the two awoke.  Rachel
was the first to pull herself together.  She could sense that it was
growing dark outside, though this underground training center had no
windows.  She looked behind her at her sleeping lover, a slight smile
playing across his face as he slept soundly, snoring lightly.
 
            She hated to wake him, but if they were to prepare for the
evening, they would have to start soon.  She reached to shake his
shoulder, but as soon as it came within six inches of him, his eyes
shot open, and his head turned toward her.  She abruptly moved
backward, startled by his sudden motion.  As soon as he had seen who
was near him, he had smiled, but it took a little longer for her heart
to settle back down.
 
            “How do you do that?” she asked.
 
            He just shrugged at her as he sat up.  “Don’t know.  I’m
probably still jumpy about tonight.  Shit, what time is it?” he said in
a slight panic.  He looked quickly at his watch, which showed it was
only quarter to six.  He let out a sigh, and settled back.  He looked
over at Rachel, who was sitting quietly, watching him.  “Well, Miss
Sutton, that was the best training session yet.”  She blushed and
lowered her eyes.
 
            “I meant what I said,” she answered.
 
            “Hmm?”
 
            “About doing anything for you.  I am committed to you now.”
 
            “Rachel,” he said earnestly, “I already have…” she cut him
off.
 
            “I know that you have a girlfriend.  I know everything that
has happened to you in the last three weeks.  I’m glad that Charlotte
accepts the situation.  I am not seeking to fill that space.  I am only
telling you that I will die for you, if necessary.  I will do whatever
is within my power that you ask of me.  My future is now up to you…
Master.”
 
            Andrew turned white as a ghost.  “Don’t call me that!”  He
slid back away from her, as if to distance himself from the situation.
 
            She understood his reaction.  “The word has many meanings,
especially among magicians.  Of course, there is the master you are
thinking of, and I suppose to some extent that meaning does apply. 
However, the usage I meant was that you are now a Master magician, or a
mage.  Your power has grown far beyond what I expected.  Believe it or
not, I was *trying* to resist you today.  It simply wasn’t possible. 
Your mastery of the ring’s powers is as complete as it can become.  I’m
sorry if you misunderstood me.”
 
            Andrew settled a little, but only a little, because of her
early qualification that the “other” meaning of master did apply, at
least a little.  “So, why does my being a mage force you to do what I
say?”
 
            “This lowly apprentice hopes you can teach her more of the
magic than she already knows.  Also, in training you in the manner I
did, forcing you to take my body through magic, I have allowed myself
to be brought under your influence.  Since I was fighting the ring with
magic, when it broke me, the hold it has is far stronger.  I cannot
resist you now.  I don’t even have the will to want to.”
 
            “Rachel, this is all a bit much for me.  I’m sorry, I never
meant to…”
 
            “Master, I was aware of the consequences of my actions when
I started your training.  I knew that you were more powerful than I. 
The vastness of your power changes little in the situation, except that
I can now hope that you will be able to teach *me* something about
magic.”
 
            “You mean you *knew* you would end up as my… er… um… you
would end up following me, two weeks ago when we started?”
 
            “Yes.”
 
            “Then why did you start?”
 
            “Master, although I am not allowed to tell you about it,
there is more going on than just your personal struggle against Bradley
Demar and the others who want the ring.  The ring itself is very
important.”
 
            “Why can’t you tell me?”
 
            “The magic forbids it.  If I attempt to tell you, the magic
will harm me.  It may even take my life.  I have committed myself fully
to the way of magic, and so it holds great control over me, as do you. 
What will we do now?”
 
            Andrew’s head was still a little swimmy from all of this. 
Too many new things happening at once had him completely off balance. 
He was silent as he got dressed, trying to think things through. 
Finally dressed, he turned to find Rachel still nude, waiting for his
instructions.
 
            “Go ahead and get dressed.  We’ll go back to my house, and
figure out what we’re doing tonight.  I’ll worry about ‘The Big
Picture’ later.”
 
            Rachel quickly donned her clothing, though he kept her
panties from her.  She blushed as she slid her jeans over her bare
pubes, but did not protest.  When she had finished, they left the
training chamber for the last time.  As soon as the door closed behind
them, a soft rumble was heard.  Andrew turned quickly, to see the
entrance sinking into the ground.
 
            “What the-“
 
            “The room is no longer needed.  The magic is taking it
back.”
 
            “I thought you built the room.”
 
            “Oh, no.  My magic is not good enough to create an entire
room in that manner.  You could do it, but I can’t.”
 
            “Okay.”  He kissed her softly on the lips, and she melted
into his arms.  He kept that up for a moment, but then they parted, and
he led her out to the gate.  He remembered to shut it behind them.
 
            As she walked for his car, Andrew said, “Shouldn’t you tell
your grandmother where you’re going?”
 
            “She’s not my grandmother,” she answered.  “She’s… it’s
hard to explain.  I’ll tell you about it later.”
 
            “Okay,” he said, not wanting to press her on a seemingly
unimportant matter.  He got in the car, and they drove off, headed back
to his home.
 
 
 
            They arrived at Andrew’s house to find it quiet, almost
peaceful.  However, it was much too quiet for Andrew’s taste.  Had his
mother and Cheryl been there, they would have been talking and
laughing.  The two entered to find Charli and Terri sitting on the
sofa.  Charli was about to rise when she saw Rachel.  She looked at
Andrew for direction.  He went over and sat beside her, giving her a
warm kiss.
 
            “Miss me?” he said softly.
 
            “Immensely,” she answered with passion.  She snuggled
firmly into the crook of his arm, seeming very protective and
possessive of him.  He smiled at her, and then turned back to Rachel.
 
            “Rachel, this is Charli, my girlfriend, and this, as you
know, is Miss Terri Walker.  She’s a teacher at our school.  Guys, this
is Rachel Sutton, my… uh… ‘magic instructor’.”
 
            “Former instructor,” Rachel corrected.  “Now I am his
apprentice.”
 
            “She’s going to help me get Mom and Cheryl back tonight.”
 
 
 
            The enemy had been very stupid in their planning.  They had
set up the meeting place in a small park in the middle of the city. 
Andrew and Rachel showed up there shortly after eight, hoping to get
there early enough to scout the place before the bad guys showed up. 
They found no one present when they got there.
 
            Rachel stayed near a large tree to keep an eye on things
while Andrew moved around the perimeter of the park, looking for traps,
but finding none.  He found three winos and two couples necking, but
nothing else.  Nothing that would be of any danger to him, or so he
hoped.  He even checked the winos very carefully to make sure they were
not a threat in disguise, but they were merely homeless drunks trying
to get some sleep.
 
            He returned to Rachel’s side without a sound, startling
her.  He led her to a large boulder, and they stood together in its
deep, impenetrable shadow.  The lights of the park reflected off the
rock, and made seeing them impossible.  There they waited in silence,
not wanting to give away their location.  Andrew moved around now and
again, to make sure no one was sneaking up on them or observing their
movements, but again, no one was present.
 
            Finally, around ten o’clock, two cars pulled up.  He
recognized the first from this afternoon.  The second was a large
luxury sedan.  While four people got out of the first car, the sedan
remained closed, unmoving.  It was a puddle of stillness amid the four
moving men.  Finally, one of the men approached the vehicle, and tapped
lightly on the window.  Andrew could not see inside as the window
rolled down and a brief conversation took place.  However, it was soon
unnecessary to guess, as the car door was opened and his mother and
cousin were roughly pulled from the back of the sedan.  A tall
gentleman stepped out last, his black overcoat flapping in the breeze
that had been threatening to turn into a real wind all evening.  There
was a storm brewing on the horizon.  It was a perfect night for this
sort of thing.
 
            Andrew and Rachel watched as the two ladies were taken to a
bench and forcibly pushed down onto it.  Though the words were not
clear, the meaning was: sit here, and don’t move, or else.  The tall
gentleman stood beside them, not moving, and not speaking.  The other
four circled around them, either looking for hidden people, or looking
for places to hide.  They didn’t appear to be expanding their circle,
however, so the two were safe, for the moment, beside the boulder.
 
            Andrew observed the captors for a half hour before he
withdrew fully into the shadows, and explained his plan to Rachel.  She
nodded silently, not wanting to make the slightest bit of noise.  When
he was finished explaining her part in the plan, she moved into the
trees, running in a crouch.  Just as she had disappeared into the
pines, the first stroke of lightning lit up the sky.  The storm was
approaching fast.  Andrew would use this to his benefit.
 
            Several minutes later, Rachel signaled him that she was in
position.  Her black clothing easily masked her presence among the dark
trees.  Andrew had also taken the time to don appropriate clothes:
black pants, his dark gray hiking boots, a black T-shirt, and his long
jacket.  It was a cold night, and he needed the warmth of the jacket. 
He had almost been tempted to dig his Dracula cape out of the closet,
but thought that would be pushing it a little too far.
 
            Once he knew he was ready, he climbed on top of the
boulder, in plain view of the people in front of him.  Still, it took
them several seconds before any of them saw him.  It was another stroke
of lightning that illuminated him, and made his presence clear.  He had
his head cocked down and sideways, looking at them through the corner
of his eye.  He said nothing, just stood there, waiting.
 
            “Well, Mr. Kelly!” the tall gentleman called.  “I was
beginning to wonder if you were going to let your loves catch cold in
this bitter wind!  Shall we get on with it, then?”
 
            Andrew said nothing.
 
            “I assume you’ve come to give us the ring.  Come now, you
can’t possibly think you can beat all five of us by yourself, can you?”
 
            He sent a signal to Rachel.  She answered back in response,
and suddenly, a sharp sizzle was heard rending the air.  Suddenly, the
luxury car exploded in a ball of flames, hurtling fifteen feet in the
air with the force of Rachel’s fireball.
 
            Andrew finally spoke, as he hopped down off the rock.  “Who
said I was alone?”
 
            The four men before him spread out, trying to cover the
ground.  Andrew all but ignored them.  They were not a problem: they
were only annoyances.  Their auras showed clearly that their magic was
weaker even than Rachel’s.  The tall gentleman was the threat.  His
aura was strong.
 
            “Tut tut, Mr. Kelly!” the man called out.  “I beg you to
consider the harm your loved ones could come to if we must fight this
thing out.”
 
            “Release them now, and I promise I won’t kill you,” Andrew
replied in a deep, throaty growl.
 
            The man laughed.  It rolled out of him in deep, sonorous
waves.  It was the laugh of a man who knew he could not be challenged. 
“Do not think that you can take me on, boy!  Even if you can get past
these four, I am far stronger than you!  Your aura tells me this!”
 
            Rachel had told him to pay no attention when someone
mentioned his aura’s strength.  She had told him that, for whatever
reason, his aura was exceedingly weak for the kind of power he
possessed.
 
            In response to the man’s challenge, a fireball blasted from
Andrew’s hand into the nearest henchman.  The man was thrown forty feet
before he hit the ground, writhing in the final agony of his life. 
“Care to rethink your estimate?” Andrew sneered.
 
            The man did back up at that.  He had noticed the lack of a
spell being cast before the ball of fire was released.  He raised his
own hands, and chanted, “Mesa carnot, farsel mast.  Yomnikkur!”  A
crackle of plasma-like energy flowed straight at Andrew.  Something in
him told him to ignore it.  He felt the amulet around his neck surging
with power.  As the magical energy struck Andrew’s body, the power of
the amulet burst forth, bending the dangerous energy away from its
intended target.  Andrew continued walking toward the man, who took
further steps back, unsure now of what was happening.
 
            “Nobody threatens my family and lives to brag about it,”
Andrew said menacingly.  “You have challenged your better to a fight,
and so you’re going to get one!  Prepare to die!”
 
            Andrew’s hands came up, above his head.  A peal of thunder
rolled across the sky; not part of the spell, but welcome in any case. 
The energy from the storm gathered quickly.  The lightning spell was
normally weak, gathering the minimal electrical differences in the
atmosphere to focus on an intended target.  But in the middle of a
thunderstorm, the spell’s power was multiplied by an order of
magnitude.  As Andrew’s hands came down, directing the energies to the
intended target, a brilliant crash of lightning came down from out of
the sky.  The bolt itself had to be over a foot and a half wide. 
Landing directly on the man before him, the tall gentleman was
vaporized in an instant, unable to withstand the direct fury of Mother
Nature, as directed by an angry boy who wanted his mother.
 
            The remaining three henchmen scattered before Andrew’s
wrath.  His eyes were truly glowing with the power flowing through
him.  He watched them run, trying to decide if he should cut the
cowards down like the dogs they were.  He realized this would make him
too much like them, and so he let them go.
 
            Rachel was quickly beside him, and they both looked to
where his relatives were sitting.  The lightning blast had been closer
to them than he’d wanted, but there wasn’t any other choice.  They both
looked a little stunned, and he realized he, too, could barely hear
anything.  The horrible clap of thunder that had accompanied his
lightning strike had temporarily deafened all of them.
 
            He went over and freed the hands of his mother, while
Rachel freed Cheryl.  Amber immediately wrapped her arms around his
neck and wept for joy, elated at being with her son again.  Once Amber
finally released him, Cheryl took her place, hugging and kissing him
with gratitude.  He motioned to them to come with him, as their ears
were all still ringing.  He walked them all to the car, and he took
them home.
 
 
 
            There was general excitement when they got home, both Terri
and Charli relieved to see them all healthy and uninjured.  They had
regained their hearing, though each of them had a hellacious headache. 
Each one of them grabbed some Tylenol to quell the pounding of their
skulls.
 
            “Could you not do that so close to me next time?” his
mother asked quietly, for she didn’t want to aggravate her own headache.
 
            “Sorry,” he responded.  “I didn’t expect it to be quite
that strong.  And, to tell the truth, I didn’t even think about the
thunder until it was too late.”
 
            It only took a few minutes for the story to be fully
related to the two who had remained behind.  There was a sense of
happiness and relief, with this problem behind them.
 
            “Will there be others?” Amber wanted to know.
 
            “Probably not, after tonight,” Rachel answered for her
teacher.  “The three that got away are pretty likely to tell this story
to everyone they know in the magic community.  Andrew isn’t likely to
be bothered by people wanting the ring now.  Weak aura or not, you’re
the strongest mage I’ve ever met.”
 
            “You call that weak?” Cheryl asked.  “Damned thing’s nearly
blinding.”
 
            Rachel looked at her curiously for a moment.  “Perhaps…
maybe the ring is blocking us from seeing your true aura, Master. 
Cheryl may be able to see your true aura because she is family.  What
color is his aura to you, Cheryl?”
 
            “Light blue.  Almost white, with its power.”
 
            “And it is only a dim blue to me.  That may be an
explanation.  Family ties cause strange connections in magic.”
 
            “I don’t care if my aura is purple with pink polka-dots at
this point.  I could really use a good night’s sleep.  Unfortunately,
there are an awful lot of us here, for so few beds.”
 
            “I should go home, Andy,” Charli said.  “Mom will be
starting to worry, even though I called her and told her not to.”
 
            Andrew gave her a look that told her he didn’t want her to
leave, but he said, “I understand.  See you at school, then?”
 
            “Actually, I’d like you to come over to my house for dinner
tomorrow night.  I want my mom to meet you.  Oh, Dad will probably be
there, too.”
 
            “Okay.  What time?”
 
            “We eat at six.”
 
            “Can I get you to take Rachel home?  I drove her here.”
 
            “Sure, no problem, as long as she doesn’t hex me or
anything on the way.”  She smiled at Rachel, to show she was teasing.
 
            Rachel looked at her straight-faced.  “I don’t think I wish
to risk death in quite that manner,” she responded, glancing sideways
at Andrew.  “Good night, Master.  I will see you next Saturday?”
 
            “I thought our lessons were through.”
 
            “Your lessons are.  I’m hoping that we might begin mine.”
 
            “Oh.  Well, in that case, you have to come here,” he
replied, grinning.
 
            “As you say.  Good night, Master.  Good night, all.”  She
left with Charli, and a strange absence remained in their place.
 
            “Why does she call you Master, hon?”
 
            “It’s a magician thing, Mom,” he half-answered.
 
            “Oh.”
 
            “We still have a sleeping problem.  There are four of us,
and only beds enough for three.”
 
            “I’ll take the sofa again,” Cheryl offered.  “It wasn’t
that bad.”
 
            “I’m sorry,” Andrew said.  “We’ll have to come up with a
better solution than this soon.”
 
            “Well, we’ve got it worked out for tonight.  Why don’t we
all get some rest?  I think at least three of us could really use it.”
 
            Andrew kissed each of them good night, and then led his
mother back to their bedroom.  It hadn’t occurred to him that no one
had cleaned it up from the previous night.
 
            “Oops,” he said flatly.
 
            Amber asked very carefully, “How did your evening go,
before it got interrupted?”
 
            Andrew just smiled in response.  Nothing more needed to be
said.
 
            “Perhaps I should change the sheets,” she started to say.
 
            “No, Mom.  I want to sleep with you in these sheets, too. 
You’re as important to me as Charli is.”  She smiled warmly at the
amount of meaning that statement held.
 
            “Okay.”  As she climbed into the bed after getting
undressed, she turned to her son and said, “I love you, Andy.”
 
            He turned off the light, and slid in close next to her.  “I
love you, too, Mom.”
 
 
 
            Andrew found himself standing outside Charli’s house.  It
was 5:45 in the afternoon.  He hadn’t wanted to be too early for
dinner.  He had spent his day lounging about the house, being
comfortable with his harem, as Terri had jokingly called them.  Now he
was uncomfortable and nervous.  He was wearing slacks and a pullover
shirt: they were the best clothes he owned.
 
            Finally, he couldn’t put it off any longer, and he walked
up the sidewalk to the porch.  Before he could ring the bell, the door
opened, and Charli appeared in the doorway.
 
            “I was watching you from my window,” she answered before he
could ask the question.  “C’mon in.”  She closed the door behind him,
and he looked around at the moderately luxurious home the family lived
in.  Lots of real wood and wallpaper, rather than the gypsum and paint
that adorned his own home.
 
            “I didn’t realize you lived in a nice place like this,” he
said in a whisper, not wanting to be overheard.
 
            “A gilded prison is still a prison,” she remarked.
 
            “Things are going badly?”
 
            “Tonight may not be much fun for you.  I want you to
promise me that you’ll be on your best behavior.  And no magic.  I
don’t want you to piss off my dad, or freak out Mom.”
 
            “I promise.  Sweetheart, if this is just a bad night…”
 
            “They’re *all* going to be bad nights until the divorce is
final.  Too much arguing over who gets what.  It’s all a fucking
nightmare.”  He could see tears in her eyes, and so he discreetly took
her hand in his, and squeezed.  She steadied, with his presence and
support.  Smiling, she wiped at her eyes.  “Sorry about that.”  He just
shook his head, to say it was okay.
 
            Just then, Charli’s mother came into the room.  “Well, so
he finally arrived!” she said cheerily.  “Hello, I’m Diane, Charlotte’s
mother.”
 
            He took her hand gently and shook it.  “Hi, Mrs…” she cut
him off.
 
            “Best if you stick with Diane at this point.  You’re…
Anthony, was it?  Sorry, I’m horrible with names.”
 
            “Andrew, ma’am.”
 
            “Ouch,” she said in feigned agony.  “Makes me sound like
I’m a grandmother.  Please, Andrew, call me Diane.”
 
            “Okay.”
 
            “Well, dinner’s just about ready, so why don’t we all go
sit down?”
 
            Andrew led Charli into the dining room, which was far more
elegant than even the rest of the house.  He surmised where he was
sitting, and he knew that Charli would be sitting across from him.  It
was standard formal eating procedure.  He walked her to her chair, and
pulled it out for her.  Diane took note of this approvingly.  He walked
back around, and was sitting down just as Charli’s father walked into
the room.  The man glared at Charli, and positively glowered at Andrew
before sitting down.
 
            “Where’s dinner?” the man bellowed the question into the
kitchen.
 
            Diane came back out with a basket of rolls.  “In just a
minute.  Honey, this is Andrew, Charlotte’s new boyfriend.”  Andrew
could see the tension in Diane, as she strained to keep this a light
and happy gathering.  The man was not making this an easy task.
 
            “Oh,” he said gruffly.  “Well, Andrew, was it?  You take
care with my daughter, or you’ll answer to me!”
 
            “Yes sir,” Andrew said stiffly, as Charli tried to stifle a
laugh.  She knew who was the more powerful here, and she was proud of
Andrew for playing to her father, in order to smooth things over.
 
            Dinner arrived in just a couple short minutes, and soon
they were eating.  The food was wonderful, and the conversation was
mild.  Charli’s father, who never did give his name, said almost
nothing until the meal was nearly over.
 
            “As usual, the meat is overdone,” he complained.
 
            Conversation stopped dead.  It was his tone that did it,
something that said the comment was irrelevant, but what followed would
be nasty.
 
            “I’m sorry, dear,” Diane replied in conciliation.
 
            “You’re always sorry.  Sorry that the food is bad.  Sorry
that you went shopping.  Sorry that you were on the phone.  Sorry that
you had a fucking migraine!”  His tone had risen, and his hands were
shaking.  Andrew could see barely contained rage in the man, but it was
completely uncalled for.  Diane had done nothing to warrant this
outburst.
 
            “I’m tired of your fucking whining!” he screamed as he
stood up.  He still had his steak knife in his clenched fist, his fork
in the other.  “If you were a real woman, none of this shit would have
been necessary!  But no, you’re a sick little bitch who does nothing
but bleed me dry!  Well, damn it, maybe it’s time I bled you dry!”
 
            Without any warning whatsoever, his arm reeled back, and he
let loose the steak knife.  While hardly a good throwing weapon, he
must have had some training at some point, because his throw was
perfect.  And his aim could hardly be off from six feet away.
 
            Andrew had no time to think, or even to consider the
promise he’d made Charli.  In a flash of light, the knife disappeared
into thin air, having been deposited into his other-dimensional closet,
where it could embed itself into a few useless items of junk.
 
            Diane gasped, and Charli’s father looked in surprise.  Then
he bellowed in rage.  “What the *fuck*!”
 
            “I’m sorry, Charli,” Andrew whispered across the table. 
She had been keeping herself under tight control throughout the
confrontation, and she didn’t move now.  She knew that Andrew had taken
all he could.  Andrew turned to her father and said, “Apologize to the
lady.”  His voice was calm, smooth, and quiet, but it warned of
something behind it.
 
            The man ignored the warning.  “Shut the fuck up, you little
twit!  I will do as I please in my own home!”
 
            Andrew rose to his feet.  Though he was several inches
shorter than the man, his obvious fury caused the man to back up a
step.  When Andrew spoke, the voice that came out of his mouth sounded
as if it had roiled up from the darkest pits of hell.  “I said
apologize.”  His voice was still calm, but the warning was no longer
being masked.  It was written plainly across his face.
 
            The man backed to the far wall.  There was a fireplace
there, and he felt the rack of tools behind him.  He grabbed the poker
out of the rack, and wielded it before him.  “Back off, freak, or I’ll
skewer your skull!”
 
            Andrew’s hand reached out, and his palm turned toward the
poker in the man’s hand.  In seconds, the man dropped it, screaming in
pain.
 
            “Fuck!  That burns!  Shit!  What the hell did you do to me!”
 
            “I’m still waiting for your apology,” Andrew said coldly. 
His voice had turned to ice.
 
            “It will be a cold day in *Hell* before I apologize to that
bitch!”
 
            Charli had gotten up out of her seat, and now she fairly
flew around the table.  She stepped in front of Andrew, a patently
dangerous thing for anyone else to do.
 
            “Andy, stop.  I know he’s an asshole.  You know he’s an
asshole.  Hell, even *he* knows he’s an asshole, but he’s not worth
killing!”
 
            Andrew looked down at her face.  She said, quietly,
“Please?”  He nodded his assent, and straightened himself.  The dark
presence of an angered magician was replaced with the cool, intelligent
presence of a teenage boy.  But it was a teenage boy who could get what
he wanted.
 
            “Okay, Mr… um… hey, Charli, what the hell’s your last name,
anyway?”
 
            She giggled.  “Hendrickson.”
 
            “Okay, Mr. Hendrickson, since you don’t want to apologize
to your wife, here’s how it’s going to go.  You will leave this house. 
You will never return to this house.  You will take nothing with you
other than the clothes on your back.  You will not take a car, a bike,
or even roller skates from this home.  You will *walk*.  You will
instruct your lawyers to drop any and all contesting of the divorce,
and you will let them know that your wife is to get all of the
property.  That means the house, the cars, whatever else you may own.”
 
            “But… where will I live?” the man asked, now understanding
the power of the youth before him.
 
            “I don’t give a bloody shit.  Go live with your whore.”
 
            “I can’t.  She left me.”
 
            “Aw, well isn’t that just too fucking bad?  Now you see the
loser you really are.  If you bother this family again, in any way,
shape or form, even Charli’s calm voice won’t be able to stop me from
ripping you apart.  Do you understand me?”
 
            The man nodded, as he kept as far away from the boy as
possible.
 
            “Good.  Now get the fuck out.”
 
            The man fairly bolted from the room, running for the front
door.
 
            Charli had returned to her seat, a little calmer now. 
Andrew slumped down in his chair, and put his head in his hands. 
Charli was worried that something was wrong, but she didn’t dare go to
him now.  She’d pushed her luck as far as she dared.
 
            Finally, his head rose to face her.  She could see his eyes
were red.  “I’m sorry,” he said again, very softly, his voice under
rigid control.
 
            Diane, who had watched the preceding drama with interest,
but absolutely no understanding, asked, “What is there to be sorry for?”
 
            Andrew couldn’t speak.  His eyes remained locked on
Charli’s.  Charli answered for him.  “For breaking his promise to me. 
It’s okay, Andy.  I didn’t know this would happen.  And if I had, I
would have asked you to stop him.”  Ignoring her mother’s presence, she
reached across the table, and put her hand against his cheek.  “You did
great.”  She smiled warmly at him, that same smile from Friday night,
the one that warmed his heart as if a small star had ignited there.
 
            Diane was still staring, uncomprehending, at the two
teens.  Finally, Charli took pity on her mother.  “See, Mom, Andy is…
uh… um… a… well, he’s a magician, Mom.”
 
            “Yes,” Diane said after a short pause.  “I guess that would
explain the little disappearing act the knife did right before it hit
me in the face.”  The longer she thought about that, the shakier her
voice became.  “I’m grateful to you, Andrew, for that.  I’m sorry you
had to break your promise, though.  What was the promise, by the way?”
 
            “I asked him not to use his magic while he was here.  I
didn’t want to freak you guys out.  I didn’t realize Dad was going to…
shit… he tried to kill you!”  Now Charli was shaky, and she sat back in
her chair, her eyes wide as she tried to catch her breath.
 
            Andrew was the only one at this point who was starting to
calm down.  He had been forgiven his misstep, and that made it okay. 
He didn’t like having to be repeatedly forgiven by Charli, though.  It
was hard on his self-confidence.  To reassert his thinking, he pulled
the knife from his dimensional closet, zapping it back into the real
world, into his hand.  The bright flash of light caught Diane’s
attention.  He handed her the knife.
 
            “I don’t want you to accuse me of theft,” he said lightly,
trying to brighten the mood.  A small smile fleetingly crossed her
face, and then it was followed by a bigger one, and then finally a
chuckle.  Soon, she was laughing heartily.  Andrew and Charli knew it
was a hysterical reaction, but it was better than having her slip into
shock.
 
            Andrew stayed long enough to make sure that Diane would be
okay, and he helped Charli get her upstairs, where Charli got her
undressed and into bed.  The two teens spent some time downstairs,
cuddling on the couch, but there was no possibility of an interlude
here.  Any mood there might have been had been wrecked by the obstinate
man who refused to apologize.
 
            “This is getting out of hand,” Andrew said softly. 
“Everywhere I go, I end up using magic to get what I want.  Is this the
way I’m going to end up living my life?  Is this really the way it has
to be?  What kind of life am I going to have?”  Andrew was feeling very
morose at his inability to find another way out of the situation.
 
            “I don’t know,” Charli answered him.  “But I hope we’ll
find out together.”
 
            He looked at her incredulously.  “How can I ask you to live
like this?  Every day, not knowing what weird thing I’ll do, or be
forced into?”
 
            “You didn’t ask me to.  Yet.”  She smiled at him softly. 
“But someday I hope you do.”
 
            She kissed him, and that prevented any further discussion. 
They necked for a while, but soon enough, it was time for him to go
home to his other girls.  The thought was still disturbing to him.
 
            “I’ll see you in the morning,” she said as he stopped at
the door.  “And don’t worry about life.  It has a way of adjusting
itself to circumstances.”  She kissed him softly, and then stepped
back.  “I love you, Andrew Kelly,” she said formally.
 
            “And I, you, Charlotte Hendrickson.”  He stepped off the
porch, and disappeared into the darkness.
 
 
 
            Andrew woke up the next morning relieved to have this
particular weekend behind him.  His mother and cousin were safe, he had
instantly established a reputation among the magic community, he had
completed his training with Rachel - not to mention having a very nice
time doing it - and he had settled a little matter for his girlfriend. 
It was, altogether a good weekend.
 
            He was still happy it was over.
 
            While Andrew had been busy scaring the crap out of Charli’s
father, his mother had gone out and purchased bunk beds, so that there
would be enough room for everyone to sleep.  He slipped out of bed, not
waking his mother, and padded down the hall.  He peeked in on Terri and
Cheryl, who were resting comfortably.  Cheryl had taken the top bunk. 
*Well, she always does like being on top,* he thought to himself wryly.
 
            The ride to school was a little dull without Steve to talk
with, but it was a short ride, so it didn’t bother him too much.  He
figured that Steve found Tracy to be much more interesting company in
the morning.  He did have his morning wake-up kiss from Charli to look
forward to, though.
 
            Truth be told, the more he thought about it, the less sorry
he was about the incident the previous night.  Her father was obviously
an asshole, and Andrew had enjoyed putting him in his place.  He hoped
that Charli would come around, one of these days, and see it his way,
but he wasn’t going to push.  She had forgiven him for breaking his
promise, but he still felt there was a little hesitancy to accept his
behavior toward her parents.
 
            She was waiting for him at the door, anyway.  Whatever her
true feelings about last night, her good-morning kiss was inspiring. 
He held her tightly as their lips pressed firmly together.  He broke
the kiss only because she pulled away.
 
            “If we don’t hurry, we’re going to be late for class,” she
said with a smile.  “And good morning.  *And* I love you.”
 
            “I love you, too, baby,” he responded.  She put her arm
around him as they walked into the building together.  It was the
perfect way to start a school day.
 
 
 
            It was obvious, when she showed up at lunch, that Charli’s
perfect day had come to a crashing halt at some point.  When Andrew
looked up from the list of names that Steve had given him, her scowl
was evident.  She gave him a perfunctory kiss, but it was clear that
she was not happy about something.
 
            “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
 
            She exhaled sharply.  “That damned substitute is what’s
wrong.  The bitch gave me D-hall for talking in class!  I was
whispering to the girl next to me, because I needed a pen, for crap’s
sake!”
 
            “Is she that bad?”  He had, of course, not met Miss
Walker’s replacement yet.
 
            “I wasn’t the only one who got detention.  She gave like
six of us D-hall, for a bunch of little, shitty reasons.”
 
            “Perhaps she needs a couple of lessons in manners,” he
mused out loud.
 
            “She sure d-…” Charli stopped herself in mid-sentence.  She
shook her head.  “I promised myself I’d never ask you to do something
like that for me.  I’m afraid of what I might become if I know I have
access to that kind of power.”
 
            “You didn’t ask me to do anything, baby,” Andrew answered
soothingly.  “You don’t have to.  Somebody’s messing with my girl, and
that’s not allowed.  Besides, if she’s really that big a bitch, she
needs to be brought down a peg or three.  Just like some of these girls
do.”  He waved at the list.
 
            “What’s that?”
 
            “The geek squad’s wish list.”
 
            “Oh.  Let me see.”  She picked up the list and scanned it. 
She whistled softly.  “Damn, they don’t want much, do they?”  She
actually smiled, and it felt good for Andrew to see her smile.
 
            “Most of these girls are on our list.  Two of them are
marginal, I wanted your opinion before allowing them.”
 
            “Well, Sharonda is so stuck up her nose looks like a
periscope.”  Andrew chuckled at the new school phrase for snobs.  “So,
I wouldn’t care if you tampered with her.  But Brenda… I don’t know. 
She just seems kind of quiet, really.  I don’t think she’s arrogant,
like everyone else does.  I think she uses that as an excuse to avoid
people.  Can’t you find that sort of thing out?”
 
            “I can, sure.  I can maybe even find out who she likes. 
Hell, who knows?  Maybe she likes Nate.”  Nate was the boy who
apparently had a crush on Brenda, a very fine-looking young lady who
didn’t associate with anyone at all.
 
            Charli smiled.  “Always the optimist, eh?”
 
            “I just like happy endings.”
 
            For a moment, Charli’s face sobered.  She asked, “Are we
going to have one?”
 
            Andrew was caught a little short by the question.  “What do
you mean?”
 
            “Well, usually, if this were a story, the hero would ride
off into the sunset, never to be seen again, leaving the poor woman
crying on her porch.”
 
            Andrew knew she was being serious, it was just the analogy
that was laughable.  He reached across and took her hand.  “Baby, if
I’m gonna be riding off into a sunset, it’s going to be in a car, and
you’re going to be in the seat next to me.”
 
            She smiled at him, and they both finally got down to eating
their lunch.
 
 
 
            Andrew wondered just how he could get even with the “evil
substitute” who had taken Miss Walker’s place.  He hadn’t really made
up his mind by the time he walked into the class and saw her.  She was
a slim, tall, auburn-haired woman, with great legs.  Unfortunately,
they were her best asset, as her face was a plain, almost drab
appearance, and her chest was slightly smaller than average.  She made
eye contact with him immediately.  He could see her aura plainly: it
was a vivid green.  He hadn’t asked Cheryl what all of the different
colors referred to.  He wondered at this green matching Miss Walker’s
more turbulent green, but his thoughts were interrupted by an almost
hissed comment.
 
            “Mr. Kelly, you will remain after class.”  Her eyes bored
in on him.  He knew she was probably trying some kind of spell on him,
but it wasn’t having an effect.  He just shrugged his shoulders at her.
 
            “Okay,” he responded calmly.  He didn’t really care what
she wanted.  He had no hesitation about using his magic against other
magicians.  He plopped himself down in his chair, and she turned to
berate other students.  He wondered if she knew that whatever spell she
had been trying to weave about him hadn’t worked.
 
            *How would I know if it had?*
 
 
 
            It was only halfway through the class, and the bitchy
teacher, whose name was *Mizz* Percell, had already sentenced five
girls to detention.  Strangely, none of the guys got punished.  Looking
at the girls who had gotten the punishment, he noticed they were all
the most attractive girls in the class.  He figured her motive was
jealousy.  It was time to start getting even.
 
            As she moved to sit in her seat - *Terri’s seat!* his mind
screamed - Andrew sent out a little spell.  The chair slid silently
backward and to one side.  The teacher was already into a sitting
motion, and could not stop herself as she missed the chair, and landed,
very hard, on the floor.  Andrew took the moment to peek between her
legs, just out of curiosity.  She was wearing panties and pantyhose. 
She was obviously a prudish bitch.
 
            Her face reddened as she rose from her unladylike posture. 
The snickering from the class quickly died out as she glared at them. 
Andrew wore a smug little smile on his face.  He wasn’t finished with
her yet.
 
            Ms. Percell chose to sit on the edge of her desk, her legs
crossed chastely.  This did not stop half the boys in the class from
staring: she did have very nice legs.  Andrew glanced around her, and
saw a stack of papers right behind her.  He waited until just the right
moment, when she wiggled her bottom to adjust her seating.  The pile of
papers tumbled to the floor with just a little magic wind.  The teacher
turned her head in astonishment, and then muttered a soft curse.  She
hopped down to scoop up the papers, but as soon as both feet were on
the floor, the heel of one shoe broke off.  She tumbled, face first, to
the carpet.  There was a great deal of giggling at this hapless woman,
but Andrew smiled with vindictive delight.  

            “Son of a bitch,” she muttered quietly, but the front row
heard her anyway, and the students smiled at her lapse of decorum.  She
pushed herself to a sitting position, and looked down at her shoe, its
heel dangling by a thread of material.  She yanked the cursed footwear
off and tossed it into the wastebasket.  She harrumphed, and started
gathering up the papers that had “fallen” to the floor.  In her state
of irritation, she gave no thought to her position, and the boys in the
class all noticed that she also had a fairly nice ass.
 
            Andrew figured he’d better quit, before he couldn’t stop
himself from laughing anymore.  He didn’t want her to know that he was
the one causing her grief.  At least, not until he was ready for her to
know that.  She finished cleaning up the fallen paperwork, and hobbled
to the desk chair, which she made sure stayed put this time, and then
took off her other shoe, staring at it for a long moment before
resignedly tossing it into the trash basket to join its sister shoe.
 
            “Get back to work!” she barked.  The students all complied.
 
 
 
            The rest of the class went smoothly, without interference
from Andrew.  Ms. Percell continued to glare at the students,
especially Andrew, but they more or less ignored her as the temporary
irrelevance that she was.  Andrew was not concerned about her: he knew
she was only about as strong as the people he had dealt with on
Saturday night, and so she certainly was no real threat to him.  He
wondered if this was the best Demar could do to threaten him.
 
            When the bell rang, it startled Andrew out of his reverie. 
He refocused his thoughts as the students filed out.  He knew a fight
was coming, and he was determined to make it a short one.
 
            As soon as the door clicked shut, Ms. Percell rose from her
seat.  Her hands rose into an obvious spell-casting posture, and she
began her chant.  Andrew actually yawned.  He flicked his hand in her
direction, one of Rachel’s many spells passing through his mind.  The
woman was flung backward, smacking her head against the blackboard
before she collapsed to the floor.
 
            She was shaking her head, trying to clear her vision, as
Andrew rose from his seat.  He didn’t walk toward her, but instead went
to the door.  He looked out, to see an empty hallway.  Then, he closed
and locked the door.  He didn’t want to be interrupted.
 
            By the time he turned back to her, she had managed to make
it to her feet.  Her hands were once again poised to cast her magic,
but he just waved at her, and she stopped.  The ring grasped hold of
her mind, and would not let go.
 
            “Drop to your knees,” Andrew commanded.  She did exactly as
she was told.  “Put your hands behind your head, and spread your knees
apart.”  Even this bitch couldn’t make this posture look bad. He sat on
a desk in the front row, and looked her over.  “What is your name?”
 
            “Gloria.”  The answer was robotic: she was trying to fight
his control without success.
 
            “Well, Gloria, you shouldn’t have tried to pick a fight
with me.  It was stupid and childish.  Did Demar send you?”
 
            “Yes.”
 
            “You were supposed to… what?”
 
            “Kill you, or at least scare you.”
 
            Andrew laughed at her.  “You?  Kill me?  You’re not even
*close!*”
 
            Her face showed her irritation at being belittled.  He
finally settled down, and then hopped off the desk, approaching her.
 
            “Why did you give so many girls detention?”
 
            “Because I *could*!  Those little sluts think they’re hot
stuff, perhaps a little time in confinement will settle their little
attitudes!”
 
            Andrew snickered at her.  “Do you really think any of them
gives a shit about your petty little life?  D-Hall for them is nothing
more than an inconvenient hour out of their day.  However, one of the
girls you sent happens to be my girlfriend.  For that, you have to be
punished.”
 
            He leaned over to look her square in the face.  She showed
supreme defiance, until his hand connected smartly with her cheek.  He
left a red imprint of his hand, and she fell backward.  She looked at
him with astonishment.
 
            “I didn’t say you could move!” he bellowed.  “Get your
sorry ass back into position!”  Quickly, she resumed the humiliating
position he had ordered her into.  The ring had full control of her now.
 
            Andrew bent over her again, but this time did not look her
in the face.  He reached down to her blouse, and ripped it apart. 
Buttons flew in every direction as he tore it from her body.  He didn’t
try to break her bra: that was a much tougher garment, and not
attractive at all.  He cast a little fire spell, and her bra burst into
magical flames, evaporating from her body without causing her harm. 
She screamed in panic, anyway.
 
            “Not bad, Gloria.  You’re kinda small, though.  Hell, my
girlfriend could fit both of your tits into one of hers, and still have
room to spare.”  The comment stung, and it was obvious.  Andrew smiled
viciously.  “Still, tits are tits, I suppose.”  He grabbed one and
mauled it cruelly.  He pinched and twisted the nipple until she gasped
in pain, and then he did it to the other one.
 
            Finally, he’d had enough of torturing her breasts, and he
stepped back.  “Just like all the other bitches in this school, you
need to be taught a lesson.”  He unbuckled his belt, and slipped it out
of its loops.  Her eyes widened as she saw him do this.  Instead of
approaching her with it, however, he set it down on the desk behind
him.  He undid his jeans, and then pushed them, with his briefs, down
off his hips.  Gloria’s eyes opened much wider as she saw the size of
his dick.
 
            Andrew wasn’t nearly hard yet, but his size was still
impressive.  He hobbled over to her, and his cock sat right before her
eyes.  He took it in his hand, and laid its length against her cheek,
running it forward and across her nose, and then down the other cheek.
 
            “Suck it,” he ordered.  Gloria Percell had never given head
in her entire life.  Two guys had asked her, and they had required
hospital visits from her magical wrath.  However, she could not begin
to resist the orders of the ring, and her lips parted to admit the long
tube of flesh into her mouth.
 
            Andrew closed his eyes as her lips slid over his hardening
prick.  She wasn’t very good at it, but any mouth in a storm, so to
speak.  Her lips slipped up and down, her tongue sliding softly along
the underside.  She couldn’t take even half his length into her mouth
before she began to gag.  He pushed her to take just enough to keep
that gag reflex going, to make the experience uncomfortable for her. 
This little bitch needed to be taught who not to mess with.
 
            Gloria bobbed her head on his dick, her hands remaining
locked.  It was awkward, and uncomfortable, but she had no choice in
the matter.  She nearly panicked as Andrew’s cock reached its full
size, for it was starting to hurt her jaw.  His hands rested lightly on
her head, not forcing her physically, for he knew he already had
control.  She could feel the pulse in his cock as it ran along her
tongue, and she knew he was close to coming.  She was fully aware that
she would be forced to swallow his disgusting seed, but she didn’t look
forward to it at all.
 
            Finally, Andrew jerked his hips, pressing further into her
throat than before.  This startled her, and caused her to gasp.  Just
as she did, his cum slid down her throat.  A good portion of it went
the wrong way, and she couldn’t breathe.  Andrew finished up his
climax, and pulled out of her mouth.  He silently allowed her movement,
and she collapsed to her hands and knees, coughing and sputtering to
try to clear her airway.  Andrew looked down at her with a devilish
grin.  He couldn’t help but laugh at her as she continued to cough
until her airway had been cleared.  Once she was breathing fairly
comfortably, though, he exerted his authority again.
 
            “Stand up,” he ordered, and immediately her body rose.  Her
hands slipped back behind her head without words needing to be spoken. 
The ring knew what Andrew wanted.  He examined her in almost clinical
detail, noting all her flaws and imperfections.  He allowed her the
ability to squirm, and she did, uncomfortable at his close inspection
of her.
 
            Andrew finally reached out and, uttering a spell to
himself, grabbed her skirt.  His augmented strength tore the garment
apart, so that it fell off her frame.  Now he could see the plain white
cotton panties covered by the crotch of her pantyhose.  It was a sight
to turn even the most randy man off, but Andrew merely flicked his
hand, and the magic flame he had used before returned, removing her
remaining apparel, leaving her completely nude, and, with her legs
apart as the ring had ordered, completely exposed.
 
            Andrew finished pulling his own clothes off as he stared at
the woman before him.  His dick was still hard, mainly because he was
exciting himself with the idea of getting even with the little bitch. 
Once he’d finished undressing, he walked over to her, and reached
between her legs, planting his hand firmly on her twat.  He squeezed,
and her face contorted.  He couldn’t tell whether she was in pain, or
in ecstasy.  The humiliation, however, was evident, and that was what
really mattered.  He slipped first one, and then a second finger up
into her slit, sliding them in and out.  She was already wet, either
because the ring had ordered her to it, or because this somehow excited
her, he didn’t know or care.
 
            Keeping his fingers in her cunt, he used them to pull her
along with him over to the desk.  He pulled his fingers out, and put
them to her lips.  She opened her mouth and sucked his fingers in,
cleaning her juices off of them.  When she was done, he stepped aside,
and then pushed her down onto the desk, her small tits mashed into the
hard surface, her ass lifted, presenting her pussy for viewing.
 
            Andrew looked at it for only a moment before he put his
dick to it.  As the head of his cock pressed into her, she moaned in
discomfort.  She was very tight, but Andrew was not taking the time
needed to loosen her up.  He pressed forward insistently, until he had
buried himself inside her.  She was groaning now, and sobbing lightly. 
He paused for a few seconds, just to let her get settled enough that
she wouldn’t be seriously hurt by the act.  Then, he started to
thrust.  Small ones at first, but building in intensity as he got into
it, and as her juices flowed more freely.  Although her mind was
fighting this every step of the way, her body was welcoming his
intrusion.
 
            Soon, Andrew was ramming into her with full force, and the
sounds out of her lips were not groans of pain, but moans of bliss.  He
had gotten her all hot and bothered for a reason, but her enjoyment was
not it.  He pulled out of her pussy, and she sighed forlornly at the
emptiness it left.  When his cockhead pushed against her asshole, she
squealed, and tried to pull away, but the ring held her firmly in its
power, and all she could do was cry out as his massive rod started to
penetrate her ass.
 
            Gloria could not imagine that anyone could possibly enjoy
this.  The pain was intense, and he wasn’t letting up.  As he continued
to press into her, however, she tried to relax, and her bowels
loosened, to allow him access.  It took him several minutes, making
small advances, to bury his nine inches into her rectum.  Once he was
there, she felt fuller than she ever had before.  

            Andrew looked at his dick buried deep in her ass.  He
enjoyed seeing this whore humiliated in this way.  He raised his hand,
and brought it down on her ass twice on each cheek.  He loved feeling
her body clench his cock as his hand made contact.  When he started to
move inside her, it was not with the gentle thrusts he would have used
with Charli or his mother, but with quick, sharp thrusts.  Each one
caused Gloria to squeak in pain.  Soon, however, even the pain began to
be accepted by her body, and she was soon writhing on the desk.
 
            Andrew slammed repeatedly into her ass, watching with
amusement as her ass cheeks shimmied with each thrust.  He was soon
ready to come, and he gave her no warning as he plunged to the hilt
into her ass, and spewed his cum into her.  She screamed as his hot
seed filled up her bowels.
 
 
 
            When he came down from his climax, Andrew pulled from
Gloria’s hole with a mild smack to her ass.  He walked over and picked
up the remains of her blouse, wiping his dick off on the cloth.  He got
dressed silently, as she lay across the desk, sobbing.  He took no pity
on her.
 
            “Is anything unusual happening in D-Hall?” he asked
suddenly.
 
            She looked up at him.  “I don’t know,” she said with
contempt.
 
            “You and Mr. Demar didn’t work out some little scheme?”
 
            “No.”
 
            “Very well.  Then, here’s how it’s going to go.  You will
tell Demar I beat you easily, but you will *not* mention how.  If he
questions you about it, just tell him my spells were stronger than
yours.  Do you understand me?”
 
            She nodded in response.
 
            “Good.  Don’t let me catch you in this school again, or
you’ll *wish* I’d only screwed you again.”  He left without waiting for
a response.
 
 
 
            “Been sentenced to detention, Mr. Kelly?  Well, you’re
late.”
 
            “No, Mrs. Wilson, actually, I’ve come to release your
hostages.  D-Hall has been cancelled for today.”
 
            Mrs. Wilson got a strange look on her face for perhaps a
half of a second, and then just shrugged.  “Very well.  You all can go.”
 
            Andrew left arm-in-arm with Charli.
 
 
 
            Andrew insisted on driving Charli home from school, and he
was then roped into coming in for a snack.  He wasn’t sure that Diane
was all that willing to have him around, but he acceded to Charli’s
wishes, as he was probably going to be doing from now on, he thought.  

            “Oh, hello, Andrew,” Diane said soberly from the couch. 
“How is everything?”
 
            “Just fine,” Andrew replied warily.
 
            “Glad to hear it.  I don’t want to spoil whatever plans you
two have, but could you and I talk for a bit?”
 
            Andrew looked at Charli.  She just shrugged.  “I’ll wait up
in my room,” she offered, and departed up the stairs.  Andrew turned
and sat down at the other end of the couch from Diane.  They each
turned so that they could talk comfortably.
 
            “What’s on your mind, Diane?” Andrew asked, trying to get
this conversation underway, so that he could get it over with.
 
            “I was in no condition to thank you yesterday for what you
did.  I’m still not, really.  My psychiatrist had to up my sedative
dosage.  I’m a very anxious person, you understand.”
 
            “I’m sorry to hear that.”
 
            She smiled at him before going on.  “Thank you.  I was just
a little curious about you.  Charli has never brought a boy home
before, and she is obviously very fond of you.  However, she won’t tell
me anything about your home life.  I find that odd.”
 
            Andrew squirmed in his seat a little bit.  “Well, my home
life *is* pretty odd.  Charli was probably concerned that you wouldn’t
quite understand what goes on at my house.”
 
            “Oh.”  Diane sat for long moments, contemplating whether
that was a door she wished to open.  She temporized.  “So, you’re a
magician, hmm?  Are you some kind of warlock, or just a sorcerer?”
 
            Andrew cocked his head for a moment, considering.  “Rachel,
my magic instructor, calls me a mage.  I’m not a warlock, because that
would require me to follow some kind of religion, which I don’t. 
Sorcerer is kind of a bland term.  Wizard, maybe, would be good.  But I
just stick with magician.”
 
            “I see.  What can you do with your magic?”
 
            “You’ve seen most of its uses, Diane.”
 
            “Yes.”  She paused again, wondering at this new door before
her.  This one, she went through.  “How did you make my husband leave?”
 
            “Mind control,” Andrew answered simply.  There was little
sense in trying to deny it.
 
            “Hmm,” Diane opined thoughtfully.  After a very long pause,
she asked, “Are you controlling my daughter?”
 
            “No,” he answered, with strong conviction in his voice.
 
            “Are you controlling me?” she asked with a twinkle in her
voice.
 
            “If I was, you wouldn’t have asked about your daughter.”
 
            That took her by surprise.  “Oh.  I suppose not.  So…
Charli’s feelings for you are genuine, then?”
 
            “I sincerely hope so.”
 
            “And how do you feel about her?”
 
            “I love Charli.”
 
            Diane studied him for a few long moments.  Her eyes roamed
over his face, evaluating and studying what she saw.  “Yes.  I believe
you do.  Still, I would like to know more about you.  And more about
your family.  Charli is all I have left, and I don’t want to see her
get hurt.”
 
            Andrew leaned forward, entreating Diane to trust him,
without using the ring or any other magic.  “I would sooner rip my own
tongue out than to hurt Charli.  If you really need to know my family,
then I guess a visit would be the best way to handle that.  But I think
you may find my home somewhat disturbing.  You’re probably better off
not knowing.”
 
            She wavered, considering and weighing all the options. 
Finally, she said, “You may be right, but I’m afraid that my maternal
instincts just won’t let it go.”
 
            Andrew sighed.  This was going to be a problem.  “Very
well.  When would you like to visit?”
 
            “Tomorrow evening.  We can come for dinner and some
conversation.”
 
            “Okay.  We eat at six, just like you.”
 
            “We’ll be there.  You can go up to her, now.  I know she’s
waiting for you to tell her everything I said.”  As Andrew started up
the stairs, she called his name.  He turned to look back at her.
 
            “Are you sleeping with my daughter?”
 
            Andrew considered his words very carefully.  In the end, he
said, “What do you think?”  Before she could respond, he bounded up the
stairs.
 
 
 
            Andrew arrived home well after dark.  He had spent
considerable time with Charli, explaining what her mother had wanted to
know, and what she had insisted on doing.  He’d had to spend a lot of
time calming her down, for she was more panicked over it than he was.
 
            Pulling into the driveway, he shut off the car and just sat
for a moment.  He wished the world would go back to some state of
normalcy, but he didn’t hold out much hope.  He still had Demar to
think about, and the final steps with Jayce and Joannie to consider,
and now this little issue with Diane.
 
            Terri was peering out the window at him, and she made her
way outside when he didn’t wave or acknowledge her.  She slipped into
the car and sat next to him, laying her hand on his arm in a sign of
encouragement.
 
            “Is something wrong, Andy?”
 
            “Charli’s mom wants to come for a visit.”
 
            “Oh.”  Terri sat silently for a minute, and then suggested,
“Well, I can move to a motel for the night, and Cheryl… could…” she
stopped at seeing the look on his face.
 
            “And how do I explain the fact that Jayce and Joannie are
the way they are?  I’m not about to let them loose.  No, she already
knows that things here are… weird.  I just don’t know how she’s going
to react to me living with all of you.”
 
            “You could influence her.  Treat her as you treat me.”
 
            He was somewhat shocked that she would suggest that he
enslave yet another person, but there was more to it than that.  “That
would be disrespectful to Charli.  I can’t use magic to get out of all
of my troubles, Terri.  It’s just not a good habit to get into.  You
know, in a little under two years, I have to give the ring up.”
 
            “What?”
 
            “That’s part of the deal.  You get it for two years, and
then you have to pass it along.  So, in a couple of years, you’re
probably going to hate my guts.”
 
            She leaned her head against his shoulder.  “No, I won’t,
Andy.  You forget, I know what you’re doing to me.  And you know what? 
At this point, even if you let me go, I’d stay with you of my own free
will.”
 
            “Think so?”
 
            “I know so, Sweetheart.”
 
            Andrew focused his powers, removing every vestige of
control he had from her.  He was going to call her bluff.  It would
make no difference in his commitment to her, but he needed her to
understand what was really going on.  He was not aware that it was him
who did not understand the situation.
 
            “Okay,” he said, “you’re completely free.  I have no hold
on you whatsoever.”
 
            She had felt the shift in her thinking.  It was very
slight, for his control over her had never been overpowering.  Her head
was a little fuzzy for a moment, but then it cleared.  She looked up at
him, and had only one question.
 
            “And if I bolt from the car now, and run off down the
street?”
 
            “I will still take down Demar, but I won’t come looking for
you.”
 
            She laid her head back down on his shoulder.  “I’m not
going anywhere unless you make me, Sweetheart.  I told you, I’m yours.”
 
            He looked down at the top of her head in astonishment.  The
only control he’d left on her was an honesty push.  Her reaction had to
be genuine.  He was astounded at his misreading of this lovely woman. 
Tears filled his eyes as comprehension flooded his soul.
 
            “Thank you, Terri,” he whispered quietly.   They sat silent
in the car for quite a while.
 
 
 
            The next day at school was hard for Andrew.  He had
difficulty paying attention to what anyone was saying.  His mind kept
going over what would happen during Diane’s visit to his home.  He’d
already discussed it with his mother and the others, and they had all
agreed that trying to hide the nature of their relationships was
pointless.  Sooner or later, the woman would be faced with just what
was going on.
 
            Although each of his teachers noted Andrew’s distracted
nature, they let it slide, for they were all aware of what his sister
had been publicly seen doing lately, and they figured there was a great
deal of strain in the household.  They couldn’t possibly realize the
truth of it.
 
            Finally, he made it to lunch.  It couldn’t have come
quickly enough for him.  He looked forward to seeing Charli, even
though she was a sharp reminder of the troubles he faced later that
evening.  He sat down at his usual spot, and waited for her to arrive.
 
            Before she did, his sister came over to him.  This was
rare, but then, his orders to her were also somewhat strange.  She
stared at him in the most pitiful manner she could muster.
 
            “Please, Andrew, don’t make me do this.”  He had always
made sure that she was fully aware why she was doing all the things
that she did.
 
            For just a moment, Andrew considered letting her out of her
punishment.  But, as he stared at her in silence, several images
flashed through his mind…
 
 
 
            …Andrew was lying on the floor, groaning in pain.  His arm
was broken and sitting at a bad angle, his lip was bleeding, and his
eye was already swelling shut.  Behind him, he could hear his mother
still being beaten.  He had tried to step in, no longer able to stand
by and watch as his lovely mother was abused.  His father had handled
him with ease, his vicious attack left Andrew battered and broken on
the floor.  His one open eye focused on his sister, who sneered at
him.  She was nearly laughing at him.  She had told their father that
Amber had screwed the mailman.  It could hardly have been further from
the truth, but Jayce didn’t care at that point.  Amber’s screams were
burned into Andrew’s mind as he stared at his sister, who glared back
at him….
 
 
 
            …Andrew watched as Jayce slapped Amber harshly.  The
beating continued as he sat stone-still, afraid, now, to even move. 
His eyes were bleary with tears as he was forced to watch his mother’s
humiliation and punishment.  And for what?  He glanced over to see
Joannie laughing out loud.  Amber had caught her fucking one of her
boyfriends, and the embarrassment to Joannie had apparently been more
than she felt like putting up with.  She had told their father, and
this was the immediate result.  Andrew’s anger boiled as he watched his
sister laughing.  She stopped just long enough to sneer, “Maybe next
time you’ll mind your own goddamn business!”…
 
 
 
            …Jayce’s fists rained down on Andrew, who covered up as
best he could.  That hardly stopped his father, who then kicked at him,
sending him sprawling onto the floor.  Andrew had been late, yes.  He
had been twenty-three *seconds* late getting home.
 
            “Hit ‘em again, Daddy!  I don’t think he’s learned his
lesson yet!” Joannie cried out with wicked glee.
 
            Jayce was only too happy to oblige his daughter.  More
kicks and punches hammered Andrew’s body.  He heard his sister almost
cackling in the doorway.
 
            “He’s too covered up, Daddy!  Stretch him out so we can
see!”
 
            Jayce roughly yanked his son around on the floor, until he
was lying on his stomach.  More kicks were issued to his side.  A rough
kick to the head sent Andrew into blissful unconsciousness…
 
 
 
            …A myriad of scenes involving Joannie and her cronies ran
through Andrew’s mind, him passing them in the hall, and their snickers
and outright laughter following him.  His face had always burned at
the, then unknown, snide comments his sister had been making about
him.  He was haunted by those laughs and giggles until he couldn’t
stand it…
 
 
 
            Any sympathy that Andrew had felt for his sister evaporated
as these thoughts poured through his memory.  His look hardened, and
his mouth set as his anger bubbled just below the surface.
 
            “Get on with it, you fucking cunt,” he said in a low and
menacing tone that brooked no argument.
 
            Joannie’s eyes fell.  There had been the smallest glimmer
of hope, as she had seen his eyes waver for a moment.  But then
something had hardened him, and his expression had darkened into that
vindictive mask of hatred that he had shown her of late.
 
            She turned from Andrew, and walked to the middle of the
room, finding an empty table.  She sat down on the table, rather than
on one of its benches.
 
 
 
            Charli came up to Andrew, and gave him her usual kiss, but
she saw that he was distracted, and barely paying attention to her.
 
            “Hey, Andy, what’s-“ she never got to finish her sentence. 
He raised his hand to silence her, and then she followed the direction
of his gaze.
 
 
 
            Per her instructions, Joannie had worn a skirt that day,
but with no panties on under it.  She sat facing Andrew, and spread her
legs as far apart as she could.  The skirt slipped up her legs, but
because it was a loose-fitting one, it still covered her private areas.
 
            She set down her purse, and opened it.  From within, she
withdrew a long, black dildo that she had purchased mail-order.  She
didn’t understand how her pussy could already be wet, for she was not
excited at this act of humiliation.
 
            Or was she?
 
            She lifted her skirt so that her pussy was bared to the
bright cafeteria lights, and with no fanfare whatsoever, she inserted
the dildo deep into her pussy.  A quiet moan escaped her lips, which
Andrew could not hear from where he was sitting.
 
            Others could, and heads turned.  Conversation around her
slowly died out as her hand started manipulating the fake cock in and
out of her cunt.  As she moved, her moans grew louder, and conversation
in the room stopped altogether.  It was an odd moment, with no adult
immediately present, and no one around to stop her.  Her hand moved
faster and faster, thrusting the dildo into her harder and harder,
making audible noise as it slid into her.
 
            It wasn’t very long before the security guard, who had been
very conveniently called away from the cafeteria, returned.  He saw
what was going on, and quickly moved to grab the young lady.
 
            As his hand encircled the wrist of the hand that was
supporting her, he hesitated, wondering just how he was supposed to
stop her without being opened up to a sexual assault charge.
 
            Joannie didn’t help matters by turning to him and
seductively purring, “Fuck me, you hung stud!  Come on, you know you
want the hottest bitch in the school!”  She reached her free hand for
his belt, and he backed away, releasing her wrist.  “Come on,” she
pouted.  “I don’t bite… much!”
 
            Just then, a teacher showed up, and this one was female. 
The two of them each grabbed a wrist, and stopped Joannie’s lewd
behavior.
 
            Joannie looked at the female teacher.  “So, you want a
little, too, huh?  Well, that’s okay.  I can lick cunt as well as suck
cock.  Probably the best you’ll ever have, Ms. Ferman!  C’mon, let’s
get it on!”
 
            The two adults dragged the squirming teen out of the lunch
room.  It was a long time before any conversation returned.
 
            Andrew and Charli looked deep into each other’s eyes, and
saw a mirrored thought.
 
            *Serves the little bitch right.*
 
 
 
            The rest of Andrew’s school day was fairly dull.  The
conversation in every class was predictably about his sister’s odd
behavior.  A few kids had questioned him about it, but he simply told
them that what she had done was normal for her, just that she’d never
done it in school before.  That seemed to satisfy most people.
 
            His mind was able to return to the problem of the visitor
he would have that evening.  He had no idea just how to deal with
Diane, and Charli hadn’t yet given him guidance on what to do when she
reacted to his family life.  He had no doubt she *would* react.
 
            Even the substitute teacher in Miss Walker’s class was not
a distraction, though she was fairly pretty.  She was also a very nice
lady, and so Andrew left her alone to do her job.  She didn’t need him
making her life more complicated.
 
 
 
            On the way to take Charli home, Andrew brought up the
subject of her mother.
 
            “What do you want me to do when she freaks out, Charli?”
 
            “Maybe she won’t,” Charli answered somewhat naively.
 
            “Uh-huh.  And maybe the moon really is made of cream
cheese.”
 
            “What do you want to do?” she asked.
 
            “I don’t know.  I mean the obvious solution isn’t really
one I want to depend on so much, ya know?”  She nodded her head.
 
            “But it might be our only answer,” she opined.  “I don’t
want to lose you now.”  After some further reflection, she said, “Don’t
do anything you don’t absolutely have to, but if the only way to make
her leave us alone is to use magic, then do it.”
 
            “Okay.”  By this time, they’d reached her house.  He leaned
over and kissed her softly on the lips.  “Love ya,” he whispered.
 
            “I love you, too,” she answered, before slipping from the
car.  “See you at six!”
 
 
 
            Dinner was going to be an interesting experience.  The
dining room had been fully prepared by the three women who, for the
time being, had nothing better to do than help Andrew work out his
problems.  It was to be a nice meal, which Amber and Terri had spent
most of the afternoon preparing.
 
            Diane and Charli arrived at quarter to six, each of them
dressed nicely in a blouse and skirt.  They had, at least, not
attempted to match their clothes.  Diane wore a peach blouse with a
white skirt, both of which went nicely with her strawberry-blonde
hair.  Charli was wearing a light green blouse with a forest-green
skirt that came just to her knees.  She looked absolutely stunning in
it.
 
            Amber stood with Andrew to greet the two guests in the
living room.  The meeting was immediately awkward for everyone.  Andrew
felt the silence close in around him.  Something had to be said.
 
            “Mom, this is Charli’s mom, Diane.  Diane, this is my
mother, Amber.”  At just about that moment, Cheryl came into the room. 
“And this is my cousin, Cheryl.”  Hands were shaken, and greetings
passed.
 
            Amber said, “Well, dinner is almost ready, so why don’t we
go into the dining room?”
 
            Upon entering the dining room, the remaining person who
would be attending dinner greeted their guest.  “This is Terri Walker. 
Terri, this is Diane, Charli’s mom.”
 
            “How do you do, Mrs. -“  at the raised hand, she stopped,
and changed her mind.  “Diane.”
 
            She received a smile for her perceptiveness.  “Walker…
Charli, don’t you have a teacher named Walker?”
 
            “Yes,” Terri answered.  “Charlotte is in my class.”
 
            “How do you fit into this family?” Diane asked
semi-politely.
 
            “That would be difficult to explain,” she responded, just
as Andrew, who had slipped into the kitchen to check on things, stepped
back into the room.
 
            “And there isn’t time now,” he said, rescuing Terri from
the awkward moment.  “Because dinner is about to be served.”  Andrew
led Diane to a chair, and pulled it out for her.  He did the same for
Charli, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek as he pushed her chair in. 
She smiled up at him warmly.
 
            Andrew seated each of the ladies like that, giving each a
soft kiss as they sat.  His mother was the last, as she finished
putting food on the table.  His kiss to her was met with a heartfelt
smile.
 
            As Andrew was about to sit, Diane said, “Well, I feel
slighted,” more with a hint of challenge than upset.  Everyone knew to
what she was referring.  Andrew looked to Charli for direction, but she
just shrugged at him.  Andrew, feeling the need to take charge of this
minor problem, took the direct route.  He stepped over to Diane’s
chair, leaned down, and kissed her softly, just like the rest of the
family.  She said not a word as he walked back to his chair, but no one
knew whether she was flattered or embarrassed.  

            Dinner went smoothly, mainly because Diane decided not to
make any substantive inquiries during the meal.  Andrew figured she’d
wait until after dinner for that.  She *had* made direct mention of
“conversation” afterward.  Andrew ate slowly.
 
            Finally, the meal was over, and the dishes were cleared
away, to be dealt with by the dishwasher.  The group moved back into
the living room, and seated themselves.  At least, they started to, but
then some loud voices were heard from down the hall.  Andrew looked
extremely upset, and he stalked out of the living room into the
hallway.  Diane, intrigued, followed him.  No one tried to stop her.
 
            Andrew stopped at Joannie’s room, and opened the door
without knocking.  The voices, which had been loud and animated, grew
silent in an instant.  Jayce and Joannie both looked at him with fear
in their eyes.
 
            “What the fuck is the problem in here?” Andrew asked in a
quiet but menacing voice.
 
            “How could you do that to your sister?” Jayce pleaded.
 
            “How could my sister lie about me in order to get you to
beat me?” Andrew retorted fiercely.  “The bitch got the humiliation she
deserved.”
 
            “I’ve been *expelled!*” she screamed.
 
            “So?  You were never any good at school, anyway.  Hell, the
only thing you’ve ever been any good at is lying and fucking.  Perhaps
you should see what kind of career you can make out of that.  Maybe a
politician…” Andrew mused with humor.  “No, even they have *some*
standards.”  A new set of mental commands was issued, though only
Andrew and Joannie knew it.  Joannie groaned, but also pressed her
thighs together.
 
            “Who are these two, Andrew?” Diane asked from behind him.
 
            He wasn’t startled that she was there.  He’d have been
surprised if she hadn’t been.
 
            “That’s my bitch of a sister, and that slug over there is
what others call my father.”
 
            “Why weren’t they at dinner?”
 
            “I don’t let them eat with real people.”
 
            “Oh.”
 
            Andrew closed the door, and led her back into the living
room, where they both sat down.  Andrew made sure to sit in a chair, so
that there would be no possibility of anyone sitting next to him.
 
            “I must say that you underestimated me, Andrew.”
 
            “Oh?  How so?”
 
            “You thought I’d find your treatment of your father and
daughter that disturbing?  Charli did tell me about how your father
used to treat you, and of course I’m familiar with Joannie.  Surely
having to live with them cannot have been easy.”
 
            “No, it wasn’t.”  The person who answered was Amber, rather
than Andrew.  “They’re getting nothing more than they deserve.”  Andrew
smiled his gratitude at her.
 
            “But that’s not all that goes on here,” Andrew continued,
with some hesitation.
 
            “I was beginning to expect as much.  Three women living
with one man.  I’ll leave your father and sister out of it, since they
don’t really count at this point.  Should I assume that what any
overly-suspicious person would think is going on, is in fact going on?”
 
            “I don’t know.  Are you an overly suspicious person?”
Andrew answered with a grin.
 
            “Only where my daughter is concerned.  How much of this did
you already know, Charlotte?”
 
            “I’ve known everything about Andy since last Tuesday.”
 
            “And you still want to go out with him?”
 
            “I’m…” she almost said *entranced*, but knew that would be
a bad choice of words.  “highly attracted to his personality.”
 
            “That seems very unusual, Charli.”
 
            “Mom, only one of the women here is under Andy’s control.”
 
            “None of them are, now,” Terri responded.
 
            “Huh?” Charli responded.
 
            “Andrew… ‘freed’ me last night.”
 
            “Then why are you still here?” Diane asked.
 
            “Because Andrew has shown me more love in the last two
weeks than any man ever has before him.  Because Andrew is the nicest,
gentlest soul I’ve ever met.  I believe in loyalty.  Just because he’s
not forcing the issue anymore doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve what he
was asking for.”
 
            Diane looked at her in a very curious manner.  “You’re
telling me that you knew he was controlling you, and now you know he’s
not, and yet you *still* don’t want to leave?”
 
            “I didn’t want to leave before.  I’ve been under the
influence of other magicians, Diane.  The latest one was the cruelest
of all.  Andrew is attempting to break that person’s hold over me.  He
told me last night that, even if I ran from him, he would *still* take
care of the problem.  How can I ignore that kind of dedication and
commitment?  Most women don’t ever find a guy like this.  *So what* if
the only way to have him is to share him?  *So what* if the way we got
together involved an involuntary act on my part?  You know what?  Even
the first time with him was better than I’d had.  Maybe it’s because,
even with all his power, Andrew still gives a damn.”
 
            Andrew sat, stunned, through the little speech.  The first
revelation - that there had been more magicians than him and Demar -
had floored him, and he hadn’t recovered by the end of her statements.
 
            Diane sat silent for a while.  “Each of you… he’s saved
each of you from something, hasn’t he?”  There were nods around the
room.  Cheryl did feel the need to point something out, though.
 
            “Yes, but he didn’t save me *before* I got to know him that
way.  I came because I, like him, am a magician.  His power drew me
here.  After I got here, and we had gotten to know each other better,
his mother and I were kidnapped by some people who… wanted his power. 
He saved us both from them.”
 
            “What happened to your kidnappers?  I never heard that on
the news.”
 
            “The matter was handled quietly,” Andrew put in, trying to
keep at least the fact that he had killed people from her.
 
            “Oh.  So, to sum up, you’re a master magician who is
wreaking revenge on his father and sister, and regularly sleeping with
three women.  Is that about it?”
 
            “Four women,” Charli said, much to Andrew’s discomfort. 
Diane shot a look at her daughter, and then glared slightly at Andrew.
 
            “I’m not sure once counts as ‘regularly’, but I’m in no
position to dispute her claim,” he said quietly.
 
            “I see.”
 
            There was a long, pregnant pause at this point in the
conversation.  Finally, Amber felt the need to lighten things up a
bit.  “Well, Diane, I know you’ll need time to digest all of this
information.  So, why don’t we all watch a movie, and we can continue
this talk afterward?”
 
            There was general agreement that this was a good idea, and
Diane did not object, so they all rearranged the furniture so it would
all face the television.  Andrew decided, since the cat was already out
of the bag, to go sit with Charli on the sofa.  When Diane saw that,
she moved to the sofa as well.  But not to sit between the two.  She
sat on the other side of Andrew, just as close to him as Charli was.
 
            “All right, Mr. Kelly,” she said in a low, throaty voice,
“whatever you do to my daughter tonight, you have to do to me *first*. 
Beyond that, feel free to… do whatever you like.”  She sat back,
mimicking her daughter’s posture and position relative to Andrew.
 
            Andrew studied her for a moment, and then looked to
Charli.  He leaned over and whispered in her ear.  “If I keep tonight
completely platonic, she’ll never believe me.”
 
            Charli whispered back, “Just treat me like you normally
would, then.”
 
            “But…”
 
            “She got herself into this, Andy.  Besides, with the lights
down, I’m sure you can go further with me without her noticing.”
 
            Andrew nodded his assent.  He raised his arms over his
head, and then spread them, setting one across the shoulders of each
lady.  They both immediately snuggled in closer.  It felt good to feel
Charli against him, but Diane’s presence, while stimulating, was a
little more disturbing.  Just then, the lights were turned off by
Cheryl, and the movie began.  The three on the couch did not notice,
due to the darkness, that the other three people in the room did not,
in fact, sit down to watch the movie, but slipped down the hallway to
leave the trio alone.
 
            The movie was entertaining, but since Andrew had seen it
before, it was hardly holding his full attention.  His right hand,
which was currently resting on Charli’s shoulder, strayed downward. 
She didn’t move or make a sound as his hand slipped along her side, and
then forward, to cup her tit.  She snuggled in even more tightly, but
she said nothing.
 
            Diane, however, seemed to notice the unnoticeable.
 
            “You’re not fulfilling the agreement,” she whispered in his
ear.  “You’re supposed to do it to me *first*, young man.”
 
            He hesitated, but there was little he could do.  His left
hand slipped down off her shoulder, and slipped over her breast, to cup
and fondle it, as he had done with Charli.  Diane sighed at the feel of
his hand.  He left both his hands where they were for the time being,
and just watched the movie for the next few minutes.
 
            After a while, he leaned over and whispered into Charli’s
ear, “She is bound and determined to do this, baby.”
 
            Charli thought about it for a second or two before
replying.  Then, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she whispered
back, “Well, go for it, then.  Just save some for me!”
 
            Andrew was just a little shocked at her words.  He had not
expected her to tell him to fool around with her mother.  This was all
getting just a little weird for him.  Still, he had to admit that
Diane’s tit was pretty firm for a woman in her early forties, and she
was damned attractive.  She would have caught his attention had he seen
her in the mall or elsewhere.  But this was his girlfriend’s mother!
 
            Still, with all the weirdness his life had taken on, he
figured this was just one more example of how he was no longer a normal
person.  He knew that Charli wanted him to do whatever it took to keep
them together.  He could hardly fault her for that, since he agreed
with the point of view.  It was just that he hadn’t expected *this* to
be necessary.  After a good five minutes of thought, however, he
decided to simply go with the inevitable, and perhaps enjoy the
experience.
 
            He began to move his left hand on Diane’s breast, rubbing
it repeatedly over her nipple.  Even through her bra, he could feel the
little nubbin harden, and Diane moaned softly at his touch.  As his
right hand began to give Charli equal treatment, he leaned in and
kissed Diane on the cheek.  She turned her head, and their lips touched
for the first time.  Her lips were hot and moist, and her tongue
immediately got into the act, slipping into his mouth and sliding
softly across his lips and tongue.  Diane’s left hand came up to rest
on Andrew’s chest as she turned her body in to face him more directly. 
Andrew’s hand slipped off her tit as she did so, but their kissing
continued.
 
            Without any jealousy or dismay in her voice, Charli
whispered into Andrew’s ear, “I’m gonna leave you to her.  Treat her
nice, and I’ll be in the other room.”  Without waiting for an answer,
which Andrew was in no position to give anyway, Charli slipped from his
embrace and exited the scene.
 
            Andrew’s newly-freed hand moved quickly to cover Diane’s
tit again.  Their kissing never stopped for a moment as his hand
squeezed and fondled her breast.  Her hand continued to rub his chest,
as her other hand slid up to the back of his neck, to hold him to her.
 
            Finally, his hand slid from her tit downward, across her
abdomen.  He let it come to rest on top of her thigh, slipping just
slightly between her legs a few inches from her crotch.  She moaned
into his mouth in encouragement.
 
            As they continued to kiss, Andrew leaned them backward. 
The couch had high, soft arms, and Diane’s head was resting on one as
they embraced.  With more room to work, Andrew let his hand slide up
and down along her leg on the outside of her skirt.  He could feel her
heat as his hand moved upward.
 
            Diane was sweating now, in the heat of her passion.  Andrew
noticed how her blouse began to cling to her skin.  He felt she was
ready for more, and so he slid his hand all the way down to her knee. 
In her current posture, her skirt had risen, and he was now touching
her bare skin, the silky texture of it electric to his fingers.  As his
hand slipped back up her thigh, he pushed his hand beneath her skirt,
pushing the fabric up as his fingers traveled along her skin.
 
            As his fingers began to draw small circles on her inner
thigh, coming closer and closer to her panties, he finally broke their
kiss.  His lips slipped lightly across her skin, first kissing her
earlobe, and then sliding down to nuzzle her neck.  She was moaning
softly now, her body reacting to the wonderful sensations she was
feeling.
 
            Andrew continued to kiss her neck as his hand danced across
her inner thighs.  He could feel her heat and moisture growing with
each passing moment.  As his fingers swirled closer and closer to her
covered pussy, Diane’s body began to move, trying to force him to make
contact with her.  He was too aroused himself to make her wait very
long, and his fingers lightly slid across the slick surface of her
satin panties.  He felt the wetness there as she moaned out in
pleasure.  He pressed softly into her, and she groaned with the
sensation.  She was certainly ready for more, and he was ready to give
it to her.
 
            Keeping his right hand lightly pressed against her cunt, he
pushed himself upright with his left hand.  Then, he moved his left
hand to the buttons on her blouse, clumsily undoing them and caressing
her skin as he did.  She looked up at him with lust in her eyes as he
continued to work on her blouse.  Once he had gotten it undone, he
pulled it out of her skirt, and laid it open.  He was surprised to find
that her bra was of the front-clasping variety, and so he worked next
to undo that.  This took him some time, since his left hand wasn’t
terribly coordinated in his aroused state, but once he had it undone,
he carefully laid back the cups of fabric, and he beheld her wonderful
tits.
 
            He couldn’t resist his impulse, and he leaned down, taking
one nipple into his mouth and sucking on it, his tongue flicking across
it gently.  She moaned loudly with the feel of it, and moaned again as
his left hand began to fondle her free tit, and his right hand
continued to stroke her pussy.
 
            Andrew switched tits, and Diane kept up her moaning as his
tongue and fingers danced across her body.  After just a few moments,
she let out a sharp squeal, and Andrew felt his hand flooded with her
cunt juices.  He realized she’d just had a small orgasm.
 
            He used his right hand to tug and pull at her panties until
he got them loose, and he pulled them down off her legs.  He sat up and
looked at them before tossing them on the floor.  He took the
opportunity to remove his own shirt, and then he presented his fingers
to Diane’s mouth.  She sucked each one in, licking off her own juices
while his left hand returned to caressing her breasts.  She was aroused
enough that her hips were still working at something that wasn’t even
there.
 
            Andrew withdrew his fingers from her mouth, and then he
stood up.  He undid his belt and pants, and then shoved them off his
hips.  He saw Diane’s eyes watching him lustfully.  Her eyes were
locked on his groin as he slowly slid down his briefs.  Kicking off his
shoes and stepping out of the clothing, he moved back to the couch.  He
lifted her legs so she would be in a comfortable position, but he was
between her knees now.
 
            “Do you want this?” he asked quietly, still not sure of
exactly what was going on.  She merely nodded her lust, her tongue
snaking out to moisten her lips.
 
            Andrew bunched her skirt up at her waist, and he got his
first look at her neatly-shaven pussy.  Her pubic hair had been trimmed
into a neat triangle which highlighted her cunt very well.  He moved
closer in, and rested the head of his cock against her pussy lips. 
Then he bent over, and kissed her again, hard, on the mouth.
 
            As Diane was reacting to his tongue forcing its way quickly
into her mouth, she had to react to the additional sensation of his
cock sliding into her cunt.  She was not prepared for the sensory
overload, and another small orgasm rocked her body.
 
            Andrew loved the feel of her pussy rippling along his
dick.  He began to thrust into her in long, slow strokes.  She was
writhing under him, and he slowly increased his pace.  He broke their
kiss so that he could get better leverage, his hands resting on either
side of her head on the arm of the couch.  His thrusts became stronger,
more urgent as he slammed into her.  Her hips bucked up at him with
each thrust, and her squeals and groans of encouragement drove him on.
 
            Before long, his arms grew tired, and Andrew decided to
change their position.  He embraced Diane, and pulled her up to him as
he sat back.  Now his back was in the corner of the couch, and she was
sitting in his lap.  She immediately started moving on top of him,
grinding her pussy in small circles against his pubic bone, and using
her legs to move up and down on his cock.  Her tits were now at just
the right level for sucking, and he did, taking each one into his mouth
and lavishing it with licks and kisses.  Diane continued to moan as her
body climbed toward its ultimate peak.
 
            It wasn’t long before they tired of this position as well,
and then Andrew stood them up.  He moved her around so that she was
standing, bent over the arm of the couch, her head resting on a
cushion.  He re-entered her from behind, easily sliding his prick all
the way into her in a single smooth stroke.  She moaned at the feel of
being filled up by his large dick.  He wasted no time in regaining his
previous pace, slamming into her so hard that his balls slapped against
her.  She was grunting with each thrust, her hips pushing backward to
force him further inside.  She rose up on her hands, to give herself
better leverage to push back with.  Andrew’s hands reached down and
grabbed her tits, mauling them and softly pinching her nipples.
 
            That was all that Diane could take, and she screamed out
her orgasm, her back arching, her pussy clamping down on his cock. 
Andrew could barely move inside her, but did, to keep her climax
going.  The continuous pressure and rippling on his dick finally sent
him over the edge, and he came, filling her pussy with his seed.  The
two of them grunted and screamed their pleasure until they were finally
worn out, and they slowly drifted down from their high.
 
            When they had both recovered their senses, Andrew slipped
slowly out of her pussy, and lifted her up from the couch, embracing
her warmly.  They moved together back onto the couch, Diane sitting
between Andrew’s legs, her head leaned back against his shoulder, his
cock pressed against her lower back.  His hands softly caressed her
stomach, and they sat quietly, just enjoying each other.
 
            After a while, Diane felt the need to say something.  “So,
was that what you did to my daughter?”
 
            “Actually,” Andrew answered softly, “I treated Charli a lot
better than that.  No offense.”
 
            She smiled in the darkness, lit only by the still-playing
movie.  “Love will do that,” she remarked.
 
            “I suppose so,” he said.  “I hope you enjoyed it.”
 
            “Immensely.  Richard and I used to have sex like that, back
in the very beginning of our marriage.  But, after Charli came along,
he just seemed to lose interest in pleasing me.  We only had sex when
he had an urge, and then it was more of a quickie than anything
romantic.”
 
            “I’m sorry,” he said, moving his hands up to her breasts,
lightly caressing and molding them.
 
            “Mmm,” she purred.  He kissed her neck, and one of his
hands strayed down between her legs.
 
            “You’re a very beautiful woman,” Andrew whispered in her
ear.
 
            “Thank you,” she said, between gasps of pleasure at what
his hand was doing to her.
 
            It wasn’t long before they were coupling again, and again
their cries of pleasure filled the room.
 
 
 
            Andrew was tired, confused, and a little worried the next
morning.  His mother came out as he was eating breakfast, and saw the
tense expression.
 
            “What’s the matter, hon?” she asked.
 
            “I’m worried about Diane.”
 
            “How so?”
 
            “She’s not entirely sane, Mom.”
 
            “What makes you say that, honey?  Just because she wants to
be close to the guy who saved her from a tyrannical husband?”  The
impish smile on Amber’s face made Andrew flush crimson.
 
            “It’s… different with you.  You’re not crazy, you’re
just…er… horny a lot.  Diane isn’t balanced.  I used my magic to find
out.  Charli tells me she’s been in therapy for the last ten years. 
Somehow, I think she’s gone over the edge.  I mean, look at what she
did last night.  Not only did she accept a completely… um… abnormal
state of affairs, but she actually had sex with her daughter’s
boyfriend!”
 
            “And probably enjoyed it, too,” Cheryl said, upon entering
the kitchen.  “I sensed what you’re talking about, too, Andy.  It’s not
your fault.  Actually, it was most likely the whole thing about her
husband actually trying to kill her that did it.”
 
            “Okay, but what the hell am I supposed to do now?”
 
            “What did Charli say?” Amber wanted to know.
 
            “She said we’d take it one day at a time, that as long as
we could stay together, and her mother was in some state that she at
least thought was happy, then things were cool.”
 
            “Well then.  I don’t see a problem.”
 
            Andrew didn’t reply to that.  He saw a problem, but didn’t
see a solution, so he dropped the subject.  Shortly after that, he had
to leave to pick up Charli for school.
 
 
 
            Andrew did not have time for his school day to become
boring.  At the beginning of second hour, he was called to the office
to see Mr. Demar.  *Now what the hell is this about?* he wondered.
 
            He arrived at the office, entered and took the appropriate
seat without any instruction or invitation.  Mr. Demar looked over at
him with a certain amount of annoyance.  This was good, as far as
Andrew was concerned.  The more upset Demar was, the less chance that
he would be able to focus his magic to do something dangerous.
 
            “Mr. Kelly, your sister’s behavior yesterday was atrocious
and unacceptable.”
 
            “O…kay…  What has that got to do with me?”
 
            “I’m certain that you are directly responsible for her
behavior.”
 
            “Uh-huh.  I think this is an issue you’d better take up
with her.”
 
            “Joannie has been expelled, as of yesterday afternoon.  I
cannot have that kind of activity happening in my school.”
 
            “At least when you’re not involved,” Andrew quipped
quickly.  The goad was successful, as he saw a flash of anger cross
Demar’s face.  Andrew’s knees were not shaking as bad this time, for he
had more experience with just what level of power he was capable of.
 
            “I know you were able to beat Miss Percell, but do not
think that you can trifle with me, boy.  If you challenge me, I will
destroy you!” Demar hissed.  He had not been able to get out of Gloria
just exactly what had happened, but the room was entirely intact, and
that made him believe the battle had been more mental than physical.
 
            “Uh-huh.  Just what is it you want?”
 
            “Where is Terri Walker?”
 
            “She told us she had a funeral to go to back East.  I guess
that’s where her family lives.”
 
            “You are lying to me.”
 
            *Not quite.*  “You can ask any of the kids in class.  It’s
what we were told.”
 
            “You know more than you are saying.”
 
            “Perhaps, but I have not lied to you.”  *Exactly…*
 
            A sneer crossed Demar’s face.  “I do not feel like putting
up with your crap, Mr. Kelly.  Answer my question directly.  Where is
Miss Walker?”
 
            “Sir, at this time, I could not give you an exact
location.”  *She could be in her bedroom, or the living room, or the
kitchen, or the garage…*  “I can only tell you what I have been told.”
 
            “Mr. Kelly, you try my patience too far.  Very well.  You
are hereby suspended from school.  You may return to class *if and
when* Miss Walker does.  You have fifteen minutes to leave school
grounds, or I will have you arrested for trespassing.  Get out of my
office.”
 
            Andrew stood up coolly.  He figured if Demar was this upset
about it, he must be closer to winning than he had thought.  He decided
to press his luck just a little.  “I’ll leave now, old man, but when I
come back, you’re going to regret it.”  He left the room without giving
Demar a chance to retort.
 
            It took Andrew a second to realize where she was, but then
he went straight to her class.  It turned out she was in Miss Walker’s
class, with a substitute teacher, of course.  It was the same teacher
from the day before, and Andrew hated to interrupt her day.
 
            “Miss Monrow?  I need to speak with Charli for a moment, if
you don’t mind.”
 
            “Miss Hendrickson?  Please be quick about it.”
 
            Charli stepped out into the hallway, and then Andrew looked
up and down the hall very conspiratorially.
 
            “What is it, Andy?” she asked.
 
            “I’ve just been suspended.”
 
            “For what?”
 
            “I don’t really know.  I think Demar is worried.”
 
            “What do you want to do?”
 
            “I think it would be best if we both left class today.  I
don’t think you should be here until I get things cleared up.  He might
use you to get to me, and I don’t want that to happen.”
 
            “Okay.  Um… what do we tell Miss Monrow?”
 
            “I’ll take care of that.  Wait here.”  Andrew went back
into the class, and up to the desk where Miss Monrow was sitting. 
“Ma’am?  Charli needs to go home.  There’s a family emergency that she
needs to take care of.  Okay?”  A little mental push, with the help of
the ring, and the substitute teacher nodded assent.
 
            Andrew left the school, taking Charli with him, and heading
for his house, making sure that no one was following them.  Andrew was
beginning to wonder if he was being paranoid *enough* about the
situation.  Demar was obviously upset.  An upset man with power is a
dangerous thing, as Richard Hendrickson had found out.  *All I can do
is prepare, and wait.*
 
 
 
            Amber was shocked to see her son home so early, and with
Charli.  She came very close to panic until the pair walked very calmly
into the living room.
 
            “Hi, Mom.”
 
            “Hi, honey.  Er… how was school?”
 
            “Oh, you know, just the usual.  Math was boring, principal
wanted to talk to me, I got suspended, the same old crap.”  He played
it off as kind of a joke, and Amber blessed him silently for it.
 
            “What happened?” she asked more seriously.
 
            “I think Mr. Demar is getting worried about me.  After my
little spat with his underling, Gloria, I think he’s concerned about
whether or not he can beat me.”
 
            “Can he?” asked Charli.
 
            “No,” answered Cheryl forcefully as she entered the room. 
“He hasn’t got a prayer in hell.  And, since you’re home, wonder-boy,
perhaps we could go over some of your training?”
 
            He nodded at Cheryl, and turned to Charli.  “You can stay
here if you like, Charli.  I know you want to get home to your mother,
so I won’t be mad if you want to leave, but…”
 
            “I’ll stick around for a while,” she answered, to cut off
his rambling niceness.  He smiled at her in gratitude, and then she
turned to Amber.  “Mrs. Kelly, you got anything to eat?  I missed
breakfast.”
 
 
 
            For several hours, Cheryl and Andrew practiced his magic. 
They kept it low-key, so as not to destroy the neighborhood.  Finally,
Cheryl gave up.
 
            “You already know all that I could teach you, Andrew. 
You’re as ready as I or Rachel can make you.  The rest is up to your
confidence in yourself.  You can beat him.  I’ve shown you all the
demon-spells, and you know how to make use of all your powers.  It
should be child’s play for you to win.”
 
            “I wish I was as certain as you are.  For Terri’s sake.”
 
            Cheryl gave him a soft, cousinly hug.  “You’ll do great. 
Just keep in mind who you’re doing it for, and what will happen if you
fail.  That little edge of fear is good for you, it’ll help you fight
harder.  Just don’t let it overwhelm you.  Don’t let it paralyze your
thinking.”
 
            “Gotcha.  Damn, I’m hungry.  Hey, we missed lunch!”
 
            In fact, it was nearly dinnertime when they came back in
the house.  They both headed to a bathroom to clean up.  It was in the
master bath that Andrew remembered that he had something to finalize
tonight.
 
            After cleaning himself off as best he could without a
shower, he went to Joannie’s room.  Without knocking, he opened the
door.  Joannie was wearing a very skimpy outfit.
 
            “Going somewhere, Jo?”
 
            “You tell me, you son of a bitch.  I don’t know why I’m
dressed like this!”
 
            “You look like a hooker, sis.”  She stared at him in
frustration.
 
            “Yeah, well, you look like you got suspended, asshole!”  It
was impossible to keep her from hearing news.
 
            “Perhaps.  But, you know what?  At least I’m not a whore. 
I’m tired of your mouth, and I’m tired of you wasting our resources.”
 
            It was Jayce who spoke up this time.  “What are you getting
at, Andrew?”
 
            “You still got the money from her horizontal work the other
night?”
 
            “Yes, but-“
 
            “Give it to her.  She’s going to need it.  Joannie, you’re
history.  I want you out of the house within the hour.  If you can
carry it in your hands, you can take it with you.  You may take the
suitcase in your closet.  I dare say the only work you will *ever *be
capable of doing is on your back, but I wish you luck.  You’re going to
need it.”  Andrew turned and walked away, for the final time hearing
his sister sobbing, and it brought a smile to his face.  He knew that,
as bad as this was for his sister, his father would be devastated to
watch his “sweet little girl” being forced out onto the streets.  His
plan for them was almost complete.  Just one more day, and everything
would be finished.  Then he would only have Demar to worry about.
 
 
 
            Andrew had a brief pang of guilt as he watched his sister
walk forlornly out the door, but one look at his mother solved that for
him.  Her eyes were not teary, or even sorrowful.  The look was one of
relief, as if an illness had gone away.  He hugged her, and she gave
him a warm kiss.  The rest of the evening went quietly, except for a
phone call that Andrew had to make, to one Officer Tasha Dobson.
 
 
 
            The next morning, Andrew woke up late.  Very late.  His
mother had wanted to celebrate the removal of Joannie from their lives,
and their “party” had lasted well into the night.  He was a little worn
out from her attentions, but he remembered them fondly, as his hand
caressed her still-sleeping form next to him.  He slipped quietly from
the bed, leaving her to dream peacefully.
 
            He had just finished dressing when the doorbell rang.  He
went to answer it, noticing that his mother didn’t stir.  His visitor
was not unexpected.
 
            “Morning, Charli,” he greeted, and gave her a warm hug and
a kiss.
 
            “I missed you,” she said in explanation, not that one was
necessary.
 
            “C’mon in.  Did you have breakfast?  I was just about to.”
 
            “Nope.  What’re you making me?”
 
            He looked at her with a smirk, but the look quickly turned
more serious.  “What would Madame like for her breakfast?” he asked
with a lousy French accent.
 
            “Oh… Eggs Benedict,  croissant, and cappuccino…”  

            “Er… would Madame perhaps settle for scrambled eggs and
toast with orange juice?”  Andrew said, dropping the accent.
 
            She giggled at him.  “Sounds great.  I don’t even know what
Eggs Benedict *is*.”
 
            The couple were well into their breakfast before any of the
other females of the house showed up.  Cheryl came in from the back
yard, having spent her morning watching a pair of robins outside.
 
            “Oh, hi, Charli,” she greeted.  She greeted Andrew more
warmly, with a kiss.  “Hmph.  He never makes *me* breakfast,” she said
with a mock-pout.  Charli just stuck her tongue out.  Cheryl laughed,
and headed back to her room.
 
            “What does she do here all day?”
 
            “Beats me.  I’m not usually home.”
 
            “Must be boring.”
 
            “Oh, I’m sure that she and Mom have found something to keep
them occupied,” he said with arched eyebrows.  Charli nearly dropped
her fork at the implication, though she shouldn’t have been surprised.
 
            “What other little secrets are floating around this house?”
she asked in a whisper.
 
            “Only one way to find that out, baby.”
 
 
 
            It was very near the end of the day now, and Charli had
gone home to make sure her mother was all right.  Andrew was worried
about Diane: he wasn’t sure what she might do, and that bothered him. 
But right now, he wanted to see if the rest of his plan was unfolding
yet.  He remembered peeking in on Charli’s conversation with his
mother.  He tried to do the same with Jayce…
 
            

“Kelly!  Get your ass back to work!”
 
            Jayce was jolted out of his reverie.  He was thinking,
again, of his little girl out there on the streets having to do God
knows what to feed herself.  The money she’d had would only keep her
living for a few days.  Soon, she would have to find a way to make
more, and, as Andrew had so cruelly pointed out, she wasn’t exactly a
skilled laborer.
 
            It was then that a thought struck him.  Andrew had given
him orders that prevented him from giving any of his salary to Joannie
to help her out.  However, he had neglected to mention other forms of
income.  Even… *illegal* forms.  

            Jayce looked around.  The shop was full of expensive tools
and equipment.  Even on the black market, they’d be worth a small
fortune.  He had to help out his little girl.
 
            The buzzer sounded to signal the end of the day, and most
of the workers quickly set down their tools, and walked out of the
shop.  Jayce, however, remained behind, ostensibly cleaning up his mess
and wiping off his tools.
 
            Once all of the rest of the crew had left, he set down the
tools he had been working with.  He had told the foreman that he would
lock up.  This was not unusual, and no one had taken even a second
glance at him when he’d offered.  The building was now empty, except
for him, and the tools.  The tools that would save his little girl’s
life.
 
            He went to his truck, and backed it up to the large
garage-style door.  He quickly began to pile tools into the bed of his
pickup, carefully stacking them so they wouldn’t be damaged.  After
twenty minutes, he had a noteworthy fraction of the shop’s tools in his
truck, and he closed the tailgate, and then the garage door.  He then
broke out a window, to make it look as if someone had broken into the
place and had stolen the tools.  He loved his job, he *needed* his job,
but he loved his daughter more.  He drove quickly out of the yard, not
paying any attention to the police cruiser parked half a block away.
 
            Tasha Dobson slipped in behind the pickup truck, and
followed him for about a mile.  After she had established that he was
not going home, she flipped on the lights to pull him over.  The driver
complied immediately, and she pulled over to the shoulder, about fifty
feet from the pickup.  She called in and waited for the report on the
license.  Jayce Kelly, no wants, no warrants.  She had the suspicion
that this was about to change.
 
            Officer Dobson walked slowly from her car up to the window
of the pickup.  She saw the man looking very nervous.  He was obviously
not a very good criminal.
 
            “What seems to be the trouble, officer?” he said, barely
without stuttering.
 
            “You failed to signal your turn back there,” she lied.  Her
eyes then roamed to the bed of the truck.  “Awful lot of expensive gear
in this truck,” she commented, wondering what the response would be.
 
            “Yes.  I, uh… own my own company.  Can’t afford a fancier
truck, so I take my stuff around like this.”
 
            “Uh-huh,” she said, unconvinced.  She looked more closely
at the tools.  “Where’s your compressor?” she asked
 
            “Ma’am?”
 
            “These are all air tools.  If you’re using them for
business, where’s your compressor?
 
            “It’s… ah… in the toolbox.  It’s a very compact unit.”
 
            “I see.  Mind if I take a look?”
 
            “I don’t really see what this has to do with…”
 
            “We’ve had a reported theft of air tools from a local tool
and die.  I’m sure we can wrap this up quickly if you’ll just step out
of the truck.”
 
            Jayce, knowing he’d been caught, knowing it had been
inevitable, but not really knowing how it had all happened, morosely
stepped from the truck.  Just then, his boss pulled up.
 
            “You fuckin’ thief!” the man screamed at him.  “After ten
years, you think you know a guy, and then he turns out to be a fuckin’
thief!”
 
            “Sir, if you’d please step back for a moment.”  Jayce’s
boss did that.  “Can you positively identify these tools as yours?”
 
            “I’d need to go back to the office to check serial numbers,
but they all look like ours, and this fits the list of everything we’re
missing!”
 
            “Sir,” said Tasha, turning to Jayce, “I’m going to have to
place you under arrest, for suspicion of theft.  Please place your
hands on your head.”
 
 
 
            Andrew stopped watching at that point.  He knew that
Officer Dobson was capable of handling things.  He’d had to work just a
little to get all of the pieces of this little game to fall just right,
but damn, did it work!  His father would not be coming home tonight. 
Or ever, if Andrew had anything to say about it.
 
 
 
            It didn't take long before there was a phone call
announcing Jayce's arrest, and Amber took the call calmly.  When she
hung up, she just looked over to Andrew.
 
            "Checkmate," was his only reply.  His mother smiled at him
warmly, and sat down to finish her dinner.  Dessert took hours.
 
 
 
            "Andy?" a voice was interrupting his sleep.  This was
unusual: no one interrupted his sleep anymore.  That could only mean it
was important, and so his eyes came open quickly.  As he rubbed the
drowsiness away, he saw Terri sitting beside him on the bed.  His
mother was nowhere to be seen.
 
            "Mmph," he mumbled, not quite coherent just yet.  As he sat
up, he noted her concerned appearance.  "What is it, Terri?"
 
            "It's Friday.  I have orders to see Mr. Demar every
Friday.  If I was actually out of town, the pull wouldn't be very
strong, but since I really am here..."
 
            "You don't think you can resist him?"
 
            "No.  Especially not without your controls to help me." 
His face darkened as he realized that his attempt to make a point had
only made his life worse again.  She correctly interpreted his
expression.  "Don't worry, Andrew.  I don't think I could have resisted
anyway.  I didn't want to worry you, but I've felt his pull increasing
in the last day or so.  I think he's trying to force me to come to him."
 
            "Can you resist until the end of the school day?"  Andrew
didn't want to air this dirty laundry in front of the entire school.
 
            "I think so."
 
            "Okay.  We'll wait until school's out, and then we'll go
see Bradley.  I was hoping to have more time than this, but...  I'll
make do."  He caressed her arm gently, and got an appreciative smile
for it.  He increased the pressure on her arm, and she leaned in to
kiss him.
 
            *Might as well have a little fun before the big game...*
 
 
 
            The school parking lot was clearing out as Andrew pulled
in.  Terri, beside him, was trembling in fear of the coming
confrontation.  Cheryl and Rachel, riding in the back seat, were
anxious to see how things would turn out.  They had promised Andrew any
help they could give, but both of them knew their own powers didn't
amount to the leakage Andrew was giving off these days.
 
            "What do I do now?" Terri asked, her voice a little
tremulous.
 
            "Go to him.  He's standing there at the door.  Whatever you
do, *don't go inside*."
 
            She shook her head, and then kissed him softly on the cheek
before getting out of the car.
 
            Demar didn't see her at first, and she was nearly upon him
before he noticed her presence.  Several of the teachers who had seen
her wanted to say hello and talk to her, but they sensed something
unsettling in the air.  They stayed in their cars, but didn't leave.
 
            When Bradley Demar finally looked in Terri's direction, his
face broke into a big grin.  "Well, so the little piss-ant couldn't
break my control after all.  I didn't think you were in Maryland. 
Well, well.  Come on, let's go-"
 
            "DEMAR!" a voice thundered across the parking lot.  It was
so obviously amplified by magic that it sent shivers up even Bradley's
spine.  Some of the windshields in nearby cars cracked.
 
            Bradley Demar wheeled to face his accoster.  He saw before
him three people, but he knew only one was important.  A quick
examination of his aura told Demar that this whelp had not grown any
stronger since their last meeting.  He could beat him easily.
 
            "I'll give you one chance to leave, boy!" Demar hollered
back.  "If not, I'll turn you into pulp, and I'll still fuck her silly
afterward!"
 
            Andrew advanced on the man, but stopped when he was still
fifty feet away.  He didn't want the fight to come too close to Terri. 
He looked Demar straight in the eyes and said, "If you release your
grip on her now, and leave town, I promise I won't kill you."  It was
only a hollow promise insomuch as Andrew knew he'd never go for it.
 
            Demar's laugh echoed across the lot.  "Leave?  And give up
what I've got?  Because of you?  You've got to be kidding!"
 
            "I beat Percell.  Without trouble."
 
            That stopped the man for a moment, but then he flicked his
wrist dismissively.  "She's nowhere near as strong as I am."
 
            Demar quickly chanted a fire spell, which blazed out from
his hands and engulfed Andrew.  Terri screamed as she watched her lover
being consumed by...
 
            But he wasn't being consumed.  Actually, on closer
inspection, the fire wasn't actually touching his body.  It was held
about six inches away from him at all points.  Andrew waved his hands
in a strange gesture, and the flame around him was doused with ice,
which melted into water, but began traveling up the flame toward
Demar.  Bradley disengaged his spell before the freeze reached him.
 
            Bradley's next attack was stronger.  A series of energy
balls flew from his hands, left and right, toward Andrew.  In response,
Andrew concocted an inverted shield.  The energy balls hit the shield
and spun around, returning to their point of origin.  Demar was kept
busy trying to dodge his own attacks.
 
            Meanwhile, Rachel had snuck in behind Demar.  She didn't
dare try anything against him, for her power was far below his. 
However, she was able to grab Terri, and pull her to safety without
Bradley noticing.  Now Andrew was free to reign terror on the enemy
without the worry of collateral damage.
 
            Demar was ramping up his power, and it was now that Andrew
realized the demonic nature of his power.  Demar's aura was actually
becoming visible, a deep crimson red swathing his entire body in evil
light.
 
            "You dare challenge me, boy!  I have more power than you
can ever imagine!"
 
            Quickly, Andrew ran through the spell that Cheryl had
taught him.  He could feel the energy leap out into the surroundings. 
He then directed some of it to his two friends.  The spell could be
done without help, but it was easier to let others handle some of the
details.
 
            To cover his actions, and to spur Demar on, Andrew called
out, "Really?  So far, my sister's got more tricks than you!"  He
enjoyed getting a dig on his principal while still bad-mouthing his
sister.
 
            "Why you puny whelp!  I have the power of other dimensions
on my side!"
 
            He flashed a signal to his friends.  Rachel, preparing her
portion of the spell, signaled back that she was ready.  It was Cheryl
who would do the actual incantation of the last portion of the spell,
and she waved her readiness.
 
            Andrew continued to taunt Demar.  "I dunno, you've seemed
pretty one-dimensional to me since we met!"
 
            "You fool!  I carry the power of *demons!*  I will crush
you!"
 
            As Andrew flicked his hand, which was a signal to the
others, he yawned as if bored.  He saw Cheryl chanting the words of the
spell, and to cover that, he called out, "Which one?  Not that I really
give a damn, but since you brought it up..."  Andrew trailed off and
gestured with his hand.  It was the signal to Cheryl.  She completed
the spell.  A faint light glimmered from her hand to Andrew's.  From
Andrew's hand, it flitted to Rachel, and then back to Cheryl.  The
spell was complete.  Now, if Demar only took the bait.
 
            "Wouldn't you like to know?" Demar sneered.  "Perhaps I
should just show you his power!"
 
            "Eh," Andrew called back.  "I don't think you control any
demons at all.  Hell, if you're not even willing to tell me which one,
I don't think there is one.  You know, all of the big mouths have
trouble backing up their claims.  I bet you wouldn't even know a demon
name if you heard one!"
 
            Demar was growing furious.  He was acting childish, but
couldn't see that.  He was being baited by a three-year-old's kind of
taunt: "Prove it!"  His rage was clouding his judgment, and he wasn't
going to allow this runt to grate his nerves any longer.
 
            "Is that so, boy?  Well, the demon I control is named
Seevor!"
 
            As soon as the name was spoken, the spell was complete.  A
spell stronger than the one Demar had used to summon the demon in the
first place.  A fiery pentagram surrounded Demar, and he felt a burning
in his chest.  The demon burst forth from his body, and Demar suddenly
felt very weak.
 
            "Who dares call me forth from my place of abode!" the demon
demanded in a growl.
 
            Andrew ignored him for the moment.  A small blast of energy
sent Demar flying outside of the pentagram, which was only meant to
hold the demon, not a human.  As soon as Demar was outside of the
containment, the demon's mood changed.  It knew that no one could enter
such a containment field from the outside.  Seevor now knew that he
would be forced to return to the underworld, and his failure at this
mission would not please his overlord very much.
 
            Demar, on the other hand, didn't understand that his power
was so wholly reduced by the removal of the demon.  He chanted a new
spell, flying darts of magic out at Andrew.  Andrew didn't even take
notice of them, so irrelevant were they.
 
            "Seevor!"  Andrew called out.  "You have caused enough
trouble here!  Do you prefer banishment, or destruction?"  The question
was part of the spell, and the choice truly was Seevor's.  Although
Andrew could banish him either way, he could only destroy him if the
demon allowed it.
 
            Seevor weighed his options.  Saderak, his overlord, wasn't
likely to be happy with him.  The consequences of failure in this
mission had been laid out very vaguely, because what was said was bad
enough that more didn't need to be explained.
 
            "I prefer destruction," the demon responded, coming to his
decision quickly.
 
            "Too fucking bad," Andrew answered.  He'd only asked the
question to see how miserable the demon's life might be back in Hell,
or wherever he lived.  "Seevor, I hereby banish you back to your
realm!  You are not to return to the Earth realm for the next thousand
years!"  The thousand years part was the most that was allowed by
magic.  It was somehow a special number.  

            Seevor screamed, "NOOOooooo..." as he faded out of
existence.  The pentagram field collapsed with no presence inside it.
 
            Now Andrew turned his attention to the nearly-helpless
Bradley Demar.  Demar was still trying to fight it out, but he realized
that he was now nowhere near a match for his opponent.  He backed up as
far as he could, finally plastering himself against a wall.
 
            Andrew's gaze caused Demar to wither.  His insides felt as
though they were shriveling.  This boy, this mere teen, was sizing him
up as a butcher sizes up a side of beef.  That part there for the dogs,
this part here for the vultures...
 
            "What should I do with you?" Andrew asked suddenly.
 
            "Um... let me go?  I'm obviously no threat to you anymore."
 
            Andrew had to stop his laughter before he choked.  "Let you
go?  Are you insane?  Even *if* you hadn't messed with Terri.  Even
*if* you hadn't messed with my girlfriend.  Even *if* you hadn't sent
people to kill me, you'd still be a threat to *others*.  No, I cannot
just let you go.  Terri, what do you think?"
 
            Terri Walker stepped into the scene, and looked at her
former controller.  Bradley winced as her eyes turned spiteful.  "You
took from me my innocence, and for that, I will always hate you." 
Turning to Andrew, she said, "Do whatever you think is best... Master."
 
            Terri's words shocked Andrew badly, but he managed to
maintain his composure.  "Rachel, take Terri to the car.  Cheryl, you
go, too."
 
            As the three left, Andrew closed in on Bradley.  He grabbed
him by the throat, and squeezed just hard enough to make breathing
extremely difficult.
 
            "You were right," Andrew said to him.  "I *was* responsible
for my sister's behavior.  And I'm responsible for my father being
arrested yesterday.  And I'm responsible for a lot of other things,
too.  Do you know why you're going to die today?  Because of all the
people I've had to get even with since I gained my magic, you were the
one that caused the most grief."
 
            With a flick of his wrist, Andrew threw Demar back against
the wall.  Although Demar hit his head rather hard against the wall, it
was the magic spell that tore his heart open that killed him.  Andrew
walked away without looking back.
 
 
 
            It would have been nice if the day could have ended quietly
after such a fight, but this was not to be.  Jayce had, of course, pled
his innocence to everyone who would listen.  One of the people who
heard his story phoned a reporter.
 
            The knock at the door was followed by a lot of rustling
noises, and what sounded like pushing and shoving outside.  Looking out
the window, the family saw that the local press had shown up.  Even a
CNN truck was present.
 
            "Jesus Fucking Christ," Andrew exclaimed.  

            "We knew it would come to this," Amber reminded him.
 
            "I know."  Andrew sighed.  "Well, let's get it over with."
 
            The entire family stepped outside, to see that cameras were
rolling, and snapping pictures as well.
 
            "My name is Andrew Kelly, and I will be speaking for my
family at this time and in the future.  I have a brief statement to
make, and then I will answer some of your questions.
 
            "Yesterday, my father was arrested for grand larceny. 
There were many other things he was guilty of, that my family and I
were too afraid to report to the police.  My father was an abusive man
who caused this family a lot of grief.  Recently, my sister was kicked
out of the house to fend for herself on the streets.  I haven't heard
from her in days."  That he was happy about this, Andrew wisely left
out of his statement.  "That my father has sunk so low as thievery does
not surprise any one of us.  He has always done what he felt like, and
God help anyone who got in his way.  It looks like this time, he got
what he rightly deserves.  Now I will take a few questions."
 
            Among the shouted questions, one was, "Mr. Kelly, there are
reports that you forced your father into his actions, and that you
kicked your sister out of the house.  How do you respond?"
 
            "I'm a teen.  I don't run the house.  That's what parents
are for.  I'm speaking on behalf of my mother because she doesn't feel
she'd do a very good job of controlling her emotions at this time."
 
            "Mr. Kelly," another reporter continued, "there are also
some who say that you have been the cause of unusual activities at your
school."
 
            "Most bad rumors about me at the school were started by my
sister.  She never liked me very much, and I doubt that has changed in
the last few days.  She obviously has many friends at the school, and
I'm sure that those friends are trying to make me look bad in her
absence."
 
            "Andrew," a woman reporter started in.  She was already on
his shit list for first-naming him.  "It has been confirmed that your
principal was killed today, and that you had something to do with it. 
Care to comment?"
 
            "Really?  One of my friends called me and told me he'd
*died*, but they said it was a heart attack.  I doubt that qualifies as
'being killed'."
 
            "My sources say," the lady persisted, "that there was a
battle at the school between the late Mr. Demar and yourself."
 
            "Oh?  What did we use?  Swords?  Guns?  Maybe we played a
game of chicken with our cars, and he lost.  NO!  I got it!  I grabbed
him by the neck, reached my hand down his throat, and throttled his
heart until it stopped beating!  Yeah, that must be how I did it!" 
Andrew let his sarcasm sink in for a moment before continuing.  "Get
real, lady.  I'm a teenager.  He was a fairly big adult.  Any fight
between the two of us would have put *me* in the hospital, not him in
the morgue."
 
            "Mr. Kelly," another reporter chimed in quickly, "The
person standing with you appears to be one of your teachers.  There
have been rumors among your neighbors that she has been living with
you.  That seems, at least on the surface, improper.  Could you
explain?"
 
            "Terri Walker has been a family friend for a while now." 
Three weeks is a while, isn't it?  "She has been having some personal
problems, and she needed some time to be away from people.  She took
leave from her job, and she came to stay with us while she sorted
things out.  I imagine that she will be returning to her job in the
near future."
 
            "Some say," the lady reporter sneered again, "That you are
capable of magic.  How do you respond to that?"
 
            "Absolutely," he said immediately.  The entire crowd
stopped in silence, including his family.  Cheryl, who was standing
behind him, nearly fainted.
 
            Andrew continued,  "As a matter of fact, just last night I
was talking it over with Santa.  I told him that with all his magic, he
really shouldn't be wearing out the damned reindeer like that.  I told
him I could cover the Midwest for him, and that I would act as a
repeater, so that he could just transmit from the North Pole.  Then, of
course, the Easter Bunny had to chime in about all his damn eggs, and,
well, the conversation diverged from there."  By this point, half the
reporters were chuckling, and the other half were groaning that they'd
fallen for it.  Andrew got the response he wanted.
 
            "Listen, lady.  If you want fairy tales, go to a library. 
I'm living in the real world, here.  I have a mother that loves me, a
wonderful teacher, a great cousin, and a girlfriend I adore.  I'd much
rather be spending time with *any one of them* than standing here
yakking with you guys.  So, why don't you go find some real news to
report, and stop bugging us?”
 
 
 
