Sera Ch. 09

"Are you se-?"

"Promise..."

" ... Fine, I promise."

"Thank you. I appreciate that you want to beat her up for me, you know. I do."

I raised my hand from under the water and took a tender grip on her upper arm, soaking her sleeve there. We looked lovingly into each other's eyes and she seemed to actually swoon for some moments before I painfully leaned forward to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Oh my god, I love you so much, Slutty," she whispered heavily, strangely and completely over her outrage of only moments before.

"I love you, too, but you worry too much."

" ... I worry too much," she replied in mock agreement.

Steven

I was as surprised as Gina when we came around a corner in the apartment wing and literally bumped into each other. The accidental meeting jolted me out of my semi frantic state as effectively as her thoughtful, yet confused expression was taken from her face.

"Oh!" she expressed.

"Sorry."

My other thoughts of the moment were wiped out at the sight of her, that look in her eyes that reminded me of Audrey Chapel. Poor Gina, I knew, had gone swimming and run afoul of a shark.

"What happened to you?" she asked in a light daze, looking me up and down.

" ... Uh, I fell."

"You should get cleaned up," she advised, her eyes drifting, then returning to my face. "You know, she really likes you. Kitten, I mean."

"Uh... huh. Gina, where are you going?"

"To the kitchen for potato pancakes."

"For who?"

"Me and Kitten. She sent me. I love her. I... love her..."

" ... Christ," I commented under my breath, taking a look about while hustling her around the corner. "Gina, look at me."

She did this readily and I captured her eyes somewhat quickly, wondering even then what I was doing. Snap decisions on little information followed by immediate actions aren't my style.

The door to her mind had been left open by someone and there were definitely footprints left behind. It wasn't Mum; I was familiar with her tracks. Ashleigh would have left no traces I'd ever detect and Sheila, I was fairly convinced, didn't have the Jedi spell. Naturally, this left one likely possibility, the implications of which severely complicating the overall picture at Ashleigh World.

"Gina, go on to the kitchen for your potato pancakes," I told her. "Everything's fine, you never ran into me here."

" ... I'm going to the kitchen for those potato pancakes," she decided, more to herself than me. "Everything's fine and I never ran into you here."

I broke eye contact, closing the door to her mind when I backed out. She blinked in confusion a few times, then simply left. I was a bit stunned as I watched her cute ass walk away, then looked around to see if anybody'd seen this little encounter, but saw nobody. The crashing, recent memory of Mum almost drowning me snapped me back to reality, reminding me that I had to get to Sheila's place and warn her. Her apartment door wasn't far from the corner where I met Gina and I hurried the rest of the way. After knocking, I got no answer, so I tried again with the same result.

"Ssshit!"

"Now what?" I mumbled, looking around myself again.

"First of all, let's get away from Sheila's door before Mum catches us. We'll go to our apartment, get cleaned up and about a pint of whiskey into us while we think."

" ... Good call."

Locking my door, I checked carefully through my apartment, making sure Mum wasn't there waiting for me where I'd least expect her. Then, avoiding the balcony that was adjacent to hers, I went straight for the refrigerator for the quart of whiskey, then to the shower. I was stripped off and in the stall in no time with a nice hot stream of water pouring over my body and a bellyful of liquid fire beginning to soothe my nerves. The dual heat action threatened to lull me into staying for a while, feeling somewhat safe and secluded with the door locked, but there was no time. I had to hurry and do... something.

"We should tell Ashleigh."

"That's... yeah. She could probably find Sheila right away and make sure she's alright."

"Yeah. Uh, do we tell her about Gina?"

"Absofuckinlutely we tell her. We're supposed to be bringing crazy Kitten slowly around to the idea of her little stowaway, but it looks like Mum's beat us to the punch. Ashleigh wants to be in charge, I say let her deal with it."

Bottle in hand, I hopped out of the shower and quickly dried off, taking another swig before hurrying to my bedroom. Stanley was there on my bed and he watched me while conversation resumed.

"What gets me is the lack of any sense," I mumbled under my breath as I hastily pulled on a pair of light gray dress pants. There's no... consistency to the parasite. There's no pattern."

"Should there be?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because there should be. All living things develop by some pattern, but your ilk doesn't seem to."

"Maybe my ilk has a more complex pattern of development."

"I don't know. What I do know is that this shit isn't made any easier by Ashleigh. She's gotta come across."

"That, I agree with. We're working in the dark."

"Fuckin' right."

I finished dressing and took another heavy gulp of the bottle before placing it on the kitchenette counter on my way to the door. When I looked down to finish buttoning my black shirt, I caught a slight case of vertigo from the whiskey and slowed a little.

"Whoa."

"Yeah I know, thanks."

Kitten

My second visitor of the evening came around shortly after Gina and I finished up with our potato pancakes. I was still in the tub, the various impact points that peppered my body beginning to set in and hurt worse as I leaned with my elbows on the edge of the tub. Gina had brought a mood back with her, which I attributed to my fight with Sheila. She got up to answer the door, taking the plates and cutlery with her, and returned with Auntie Kathleen.

She followed Gina in wearing a tight pair of stretchy black short shorts that looked fabulous on her with a deep orange T-shirt, a bright yellow stripe across her big boobies. Walking skillfully in a pair of black pumps, she was flashing her usual smile until she saw me.

"Oh my god, Kitten!" she exclaimed, hustling right over to the edge of the tub I still leaned over with a shocked expression.

"It's not that bad, Auntie," I told her with a slightly glum tone.

It really wasn't. I knew at this point, finally having checked out the small mirror on the back edge of my tub while Gina went for the pancakes. I'd gotten off pretty easy in terms of facial damage and I'd been wondering if Sheila held back because I was her biological daughter.

"Not bad!? There's scratches all down your beautiful face! She did this to you, didn't she?"

"I was unprepared."

"Unpre- I didn't realize you two would get into a fight! You were only supposed to lay down the law! To tell her I knew what she'd been up to and that I'd be along! Oh, I knew it was a bad idea!"

"Sorry, Auntie. I never actually got to that point."

"Oh my god!" she repeated, sitting on the edge of the tub to gently examine my face with her fingers.

We happened to look into each other's eyes while Gina watched silently from the center of the room. Our gaze lingered until the moment was broken when Auntie drew back slightly, looking at my facial features as though searching for something, then sniffing a little.

"Sweetie pie, did Sheila...? Uhh, did she do anything else to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did she, um... rape you?"

"What?" Gina barked.

"No, Auntie."

" ... Okay... Um, have you and Ashleigh spoken recently?"

"Today," I replied, feeling the smallest blush at the flashing memory of sucking those strange men's cocks. "Earlier on."

"Uh huh, she replied with a look of quick understanding, yet concern. "Well... as far as Sheila goes, don't you worry. I'll deal with her shortly in any case. I take care of my own, and I guarantee you that Sheila will pay extra for this, and sooner than later. She could never beat me."

She then looked at the other, mostly silent occupant of the room and asked, "Gina honey?"

Gina only looked at her in return.

"Have you been talking to Steven?"

"Recently? No."

" ... Oh, Okay," Auntie said with a hint of surprise in her tone.

"I didn't see that bitch Sheila, either," Gina sullenly added. "Not that it'd do me any good if I did, since slutty made me promise not to beat her with a stick of furniture."

"Hon, please don't take offense, but it wouldn't be a good idea to try. Kitten's lucky to get away with what she got. Don't be fooled by Sheila's size, the whore's got spirit. Back in high school, there was this clique of girls, the popular clique if you know what I mean. By this time, Sheila had gained quite a reputation with the boys and also this clique, some of whose boyfriends she'd screwed. One day, four of them were waiting for her in the girl's washroom while I was down in the principal's office dodging a completely separate issue, but it didn't matter. They weren't prepared for what walked into the girl's room."

"She beat them all?" I asked, proud in a disturbingly strange way.

"Beat the tar out of them," she confirmed with a vague expression that I guessed might match my own. "Mind you, they did quite a number on her, but she was the one who was left standing. Actually, she said she was on her knees when it was over, but none of the others could say that. Nobody messes with the Burchell girls."

"Except another Burchell girl," I amended with a sudden smile.

"But not this Burchell girl," Auntie said with a playful pinch of my unscratched cheek. "She's got age and experience on you."

"I don't want to think about it. How did things go with Stevie?"

"I reasserted myself. He'll be good now, Kitten."

"Now I'm really glad I came to you," I beamed.

"Sweetie pie, you can always come to me," she told me with a warm, motherly smile.

"Wait a minute," Gina broke in, "could someone bring me back into the loop?"

"Well, if you're not gonna hang around, smutty..." I implied with a good natured smile.

"Um, I was looking for you."

"Sorry, you were sleeping and I didn't want to disturb you, so I left."

"I'm always waking up alone, then I run around looking for you."

"Well, do I have to have you glued to my hip the whole time I'm here?"

"Kat... I don't think I deserve to be-"

"Not now, smutty."

I'd humiliated her, the unavoidable truth in the ensuing, awkward silence. Well, why did she have to push it? Right in front of Auntie Kathleen, like I was some kind of stupid kid who couldn't take care of herself?

Auntie was looking uncomfortably away from the both of us while Gina stared at me with an expression I'd never seen on her face. Without another word, she walked out of the room without any effort by me to stop her.

Steven

"This had better be good, because I just sent a translator home early at full pay."

Finding Lynette earlier, I was told that 'Mistress' had left orders not to be disturbed. I had to assure the blonde that 'Mistress' would absolutely appreciate being disturbed by a visit from me about a half dozen times before she made a call on her cellphone, then led me to Ashleigh's den, a place I was still very curious about.

Standing just inside her closed doorway, I announced "Mum almost drowned me."

She didn't react to this right away but, after a moment, blinked at me a couple times before speaking with much less irritation and a lot more concern.

"What? What?"

I told her the story.

"Holy... When was this?" she asked incredulously.

"Little over a half hour ago," I said, by this time slumped on her couch and wondering if she had any alcohol in her lair.

"Well, what the hell kept you!?"

"I got cleaned up while I decided what I should do, but first I had to drop by-"

"Decide what to do!?" she demanded as though I wasn't the victim. "You fucking tell me, is what you do! Immediately! Not almost an hour later!"

"Well, I had to go tell Sheila first before Mum got to her, didn't I!? She knew I was going to meet her, she was right outside the god damned door when I opened it to leave!"

"Well, where's Sheila now!?"

"I don't know, she wasn't in! You have to go fi-!"

She was already on it, already out of her chair with an alarmed expression and heading for the door. She was dressed the most decently I'd ever seen her in a form flattering, hot pink business suit with very well fitting slacks. Her tits bounced crazily in her modestly buttoned white blouse, jacket only secured by one button at her midriff.

"Stay here!" was all she said before she disappeared beyond the door that slammed shut behind her.

"Oh my fuck, what is wrong with the women in this family?"

At least she was on it and, after a moment, I had to admit to myself that it felt a lot better having a strong ally in this situation than it did to be all alone when the shit hit the fan, like I was in Saint John. With a start, I noted my hands were trembling a little and I grabbed my thighs, closing my eyes and willing my nerves to settle. Ashleigh would find Sheila in time, everything would somehow work out and, in the meantime, she'd left me alone in her den.

The shelves covering the walls offered information pretty much exclusively on the subjects of anatomy, spiritualism, sexuality, death, natural geography and the paranormal. Some looked new and, when I checked publication dates, I found some that had been written during the current decade, but there were also some old ones, some very old, then some that didn't even have publication dates and were often written in hand. In addition, about half of them weren't written in English, the only way to guess at the subject matter being the occasional illustration.

One of them caught my eye. The scene it depicted was a small village. Everywhere in the scene, people were having various forms of sex in what appeared to be a town orgy. The artwork was such that, despite its simple form, it somehow managed to convey great detail in how it sparked the imagination. The viewer could see things like facial expressions that weren't really there on closer inspection.

I checked out her desk next, touching or moving nothing I didn't have to so as not to leave anything out of place. In addition to her computer and among the usual expected desktop items were scattered papers written in freehand, but again, in some language other than English. Some were neatly piled and put to the side as though they were being put into order and they all looked quite old. In front of my aunt's chair was an open notebook, one of those black hardcover deals with the contents written in English.

I guessed it was a translation of the loose papers, mostly because of the awkward way the notebook read, the language either not translating well to English, or the translator Ashleigh had to send home just wasn't that good.

To summarize, what I read amounted to how some spirits take an interest in people. This is somewhat common with the spirits of those who have passed on and various demonic presences such as poltergeists, but quite uncommon when it comes to 'earth spirits'. Also, the level and type of interaction where an earth sprit is concerned is often quite different than other more common types of paranormal 'infestation'. (That's the actual word the translator had used)

Becoming wary of being caught by my returning Aunt, I had to tear my eyes away from the notebook before I could read much more, going back to the chair in front of her desk to slouch while I looked around myself thoughtfully. It was pretty clear she was on to something where the parasite was concerned, pretty obvious that she at least wasn't completely in the dark, but what it was specifically that she knew couldn't be determined without intense study of some the books around me, if not all of them. So, apart from the comfort I took in the fact that there were probably some answers to be had and that Aunt Ash most likely had them, I actually had none myself as a result of my brief investigation of her den and its contents.

"(Sigh)"

I found myself thinking of the illustration from the book, the town orgy and remembered how its curious detail got a physical reaction from my dick. It began happening again as I remembered one particular scene where two naked men were removing a young woman's clothes with greedy expressions while six more hurried to their location. I was soon totally hard, lightly stroking myself through my pants while imagining I was one of those guys pulling her clothes off, or even the guy who was with the two elderly ladies who were all over him. I was quite abnormally excited, considering what all had just happened with Mum, and I was a bit embarrassed when Ashleigh returned.

"Alright, I found her," she reported with unmistakable relief in her tone. "She's had a little trouble of her own this evening in the form of a surprise visit by Kitten, but I had Lamarr escort her to my apartments for the-"

She'd made her way to her desk and was just rounding it when she stopped, looking at its contents and then back at me with some alarm in her features. Her expression evened out before she drily inquired of me.

"Get a good look, did we?"

She wasn't mesmerizing me as she looked me straight in the eyes, however I knew it would be pointless to lie to her in any case, so I replied truthfully.

"You can't blame me."

"Uh huh," she answered. Anyway, I sent Sheila to my apartments for the evening."

She seemed to forget about my snooping as she finished her way to her desk, sitting behind it, but also gathering up the notebook and loose papers.

"What language is that?" I asked.

"I told you I'll tell everything I know to all of you at the same time. I can understand your curiosity, but I'd rather not be accused of keeping secrets while I'm trying to knit this family together."

"It's not easy working in the dark, Ashleigh."

"You have all the light you need for now. Look, Sheila thinks it's a good idea for you to spend the night at my apartments as well."

I shook my head, saying, "Mum's already made her point, she's not one to keep making it unless I prove it necessary, and I'd rather avoid that for now if I can. How'd things go with Sheila and Kitten?"

"Uh... not well. She'll tell you, I'm sure. You are going to keep talking to her, right?"

" ... Yeah. I like her a lot."

"Good. She likes you too, and she's worried. I didn't tell her what your Mum did to you tonight, but I did tell her you two had spoken and that you were fine. Are you fine?"

Her concern was evident and I looked down when I nodded my head and sighed.

"I told you she'd hurt you again," she reminded quietly.

Retreating from the subject, I said, "Listen, something else has happened."

"Oh?"

"I ran into Gina on the way to Sheila's apartment."

"Ahhh, Gina," she sighed, sitting back in her puffy, black office chair. "I like her, but she's becoming a pain in my fat ass, like I knew she would."

"Your ass is not fat, and how big a pain can she be while surrounded by five Burchells, all of us hosting our little guests?"

Her lips compressed at my reference, but she only asked, "What happened?"

"I ran into her in the corridor, quite literally, and she was... Well, somebody had a Jedi spell on her."

" ... Really?"

"Yes, and since I know Mum's tracks and since you don't leave any and since I don't think Sheila even has-"

"Wait a minute... 'tracks'?"

"One of Mum's terms. That sense you get when you can tell one of us has been in a person's head. Like I said, it wasn't Mum's, you can hide yours and I don't think Sheila has the Jedi spell, so..."