Author’s note: This chapter is extremely light on the erotica, as I am setting up the finale. There is a lot of character development here, that has to be in place, before I end this series. I could have had more sex it in, but it would have been forced, and I felt it would have been untrue to the characters and plot that I have created. I hope those that have read this far, understand.
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It took me nearly an hour to convince mom that she hadn’t see an alien ship abducting Summer, and thankfully my sister was there to back up my story. Summer and I agreed that she needed to leave our mother’s home, though, just so that a repeat occurrence wasn’t likely. Her first thought had been to come up and stay with me. When I pointed out that we weren’t likely to be able to keep our hands off of each other, and people would notice, and that Lela and/or Harana could pick us up easily enough wherever we were, she decided to fly back home. That also allowed her to start getting her affairs in order, just in case the demons killed us.

We didn’t fool ourselves, as we knew that the odds were against us. They had an entire fleet designed for battle, and we had a few ships that weren’t intended for combat. What chance did we have against that? My switches? Even having physical contact with my sister, I wasn’t certain that I would be able to affect that many at once. Everything just seemed too daunting.

The start of the new semester was today, and I personally considered it a bad idea to go. I needed to concentrate on coming up with a strategy for defeating the demons. This time it was Summer that did the convincing, stating that I that needed to act normal, and like nothing was going on. “Besides,” she informed me cheerfully over the phone, “once we stop the demons, it’s not like school is just going to go away. You will still need your degree… That is unless you’ve changed you mind about manipulating people with your switches…”

And so I found myself walking in the cold air, through campus, on my way to my first class. I decided to walk, so that I would have more time to think. It just wasn’t fair, looking around at everybody else enjoying themselves, as they returned from Winter break, and chatting with their friends as if the world wasn’t going to end in a few days.

Well, I guess I had Gina, or even the twins to talk to if I needed to, but I didn’t feel right dumping this on them.

I was so absorbed in my own thoughts, and concerns, that I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, and ran right into someone shortly after arriving on campus.

“I’m so sorry,” I apologized, giving the woman my hand, after I picked myself up off the snow-packed ground.

“Quite alright, Mr. Xavier,” the woman said in a voice I almost recognized. She looked slightly familiar, but I couldn’t place her. She was an older woman, with long red hair, skinny, and rather attractive. She was wearing a white smock, and so at first I thought she might be part of the nursing program. The only problem with that theory was that I didn’t know anyone from that department, and I was certain I had met this woman before. Something told me to check for my switches, and I was a bit surprised to find some in her: ‘metabolism’, ‘skin elasticity’, ‘red hair’, and ‘slow aging’.

Who had I given those switches to? I had to think hard, before the answer finally came to me. “Mrs. Polkins?” I asked in shock.

“Have I changed that much?” she asked me with a smile, while she brushed her smock off. “I’ve been feeling so young again lately, and my hair color actually came back. Well, not really my hair color, but it is still better than grey. Not sure why it turned red. Not even the doctors could explain it, but I’ve been feeling so ALIVE!”

I could tell that she was indeed feeling well, by the sparkle in her eyes, and the speed with which she talked. I couldn’t help but smile, thankful that my switches had helped at least someone out for the better.

Mrs. Polkins was looking at something red on her smock, and then examining her own hands. Suddenly she grabbed my hand, exclaiming, “You cut yourself. Come with me, young man. Let’s get this cleaned out.”

I tried to protest, it only looked like a minor cut and the nanites would take care of it soon anyway, but she was surprisingly strong, and refused to listen to me. She chatted the whole way to her office. “Ever since just before Winter break, I’ve had more energy, and the pounds just started to slip away. I haven’t felt this good in years. If only Mr. Polkins hadn’t passed away some time ago…” She glanced at me surreptitiously, before continuing, “But you probably don’t want to hear about how lonely it is for an old lady. Anyway, I went to see Doctor Peterson, but he said nothing was wrong with me. In fact, he said that my body was acting like it was almost twenty years younger. Oh, here we are. After you, Mr. Xavier.”

I stepped into the energetic nurse’s office, and sat down where she indicated. She grabbed some alcohol and gauze, before returning back to me, grabbing a stool, and setting it between my legs. She cleaned the cut on my hand; or rather, the blood from my palm. The nanites had already closed the cut for me. Mrs. Polkins looked astonished at my appendage for a few seconds, flipping it over, and then rubbed her thumb across where the blood had been.

“Huh, what do you know,” she said in wonder. “The blood had to have come from somewhere…” She continued to rub my hand, and despite my worries and concerns over the last couple days, her light caresses of my hand were starting to turn me on. When her light caresses turned into a hand massage, I finally looked back to her face, and saw her staring intently into my eyes. “It has been so long since my husband died,” she told me. “I get so lonely, sometimes…” She grabbed my other hand, and started to rub it, and I knew instinctively what she was going for. I was curious to see how far she would take it, without any action on my own. Even though she was sitting between my legs, rubbing my hands, her eyes never left mine, and I couldn’t deny that she looked years younger than she had before Christmas break. It looked like she wanted something from me, so I gave her a slight nod. It seemed to be enough. “I know how stressful it can get for you students. Even during the start of a new semester. All new classes, no idea what the new professors are going to expect from you. Why don’t you take off your shoes, and lay back on the table?”

I did as she requested, setting my shoes and socks next to the examination table, and laying back. She took my left foot in her hands, and dug her thumbs into the meat of the pad. It felt really good to get a foot rub, and I was soon relaxing to the older woman’s touch.

“Just relax, and let me take care of you,” she crooned softly. She took my right foot next, and started to give it the same treatment that the left had received. “You know, Mr. Polkins and I used to be swingers.” I was so relaxed at this point, that I just took the news in stride. I knew where this was going to lead, and thought that it might be a good release for me. “You wouldn’t believe some of the parties we used to throw.” She was working on my calves now, and seemed to be speeding up. “Sometimes I would have five or six men in me a night and even played with the ladies. Pussy, lips, ass, I didn’t care, but you know what I liked the most?” I shook my head as she started to rub my thighs. “Swallowing their cum.” As she said this, she unzipped my pants, and pulled out my mostly hard cock. She looked at it for only a second, before groaning, and shoving her mouth as far down it as she could.

I moaned as I felt my head hit the back of her throat, and then louder, when it went in even deeper. No one has ever been able to truly deep-throat me, as my girth was too large to fit down their esophagus, but somehow this talented older woman was taking me deeper and deeper down her gullet.

Her skill was flawless. She would take me as deep as she could for a few seconds, pull up for air while her hand worked quickly on my fully erect member, then drop back down to take me into her throat again. Every time she pulled up, spittle would connect her lips to my cock, and it was turning me on, like no other blowjob ever has before. It took her a few bobs before her lips hit my pelvis, and a few seconds later, I lost control, and started shooting my spunk directly into her stomach. She continued to gag herself while I unloaded, and when I finally collapsed back, she pulled her lips off of my quickly shrinking cock.

“Mmm, thank you,” she told me, making sure none of my semen had escaped her mouth. Her talent was such, that none did. “I think you are sufficiently relaxed, now.”

“Thank you!” I shot back, feeling much better. Then I realized I hadn’t done anything for her. “Do you want me to…?” I asked, pointing to her.

“Oh, no thank you. I actually got off myself, so I’m good. But come back if you ever need to relax.” I promised her that I would, and left her office feeling better than I had in days. I was still worried about the demons, but somehow I thought everything would work out in the end.

I had only one class with Professor Frankens, but it was right after lunch, and I had another class immediately after that. The professor smiled at me, but otherwise treated me just as she did the other students. I wondered if she was hoping for a repeat performance, but other than a couple of sly smiles, she didn’t act any different than normal, so I didn’t try anything. Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortunate considering the few smiles the professor gave me), neither Gina nor Shanna was in this class.

Gina had come by to see me the day after I’d gotten back from finding out the demons were almost here, but nothing she had been able to do, could cheer me up. How odd it seemed now, that one blowjob completely out of the blue, could turn my mood around. Gina had left saddened, and disappointed. I felt bad for her, but I couldn’t tell her the real reason I had been so depressed.

I started to feel down again, just thinking about it, and was about to give her a call, when Julia called for my attention.

“What’s up, Julia?” I asked, wondering what she wanted. Shanna was nowhere in sight, and I could sense her switch on the other side of campus. I marveled at how I could feel my switches from even further away now.

“I was hoping to talk to you, if I could?” she told me innocently; too innocently, if you asked me. I remembered what Shanna had said about this woman stealing her past boyfriends, and was wary. Julia was cute, and I knew she had a fantastic body, but I had no intention of hurting Shanna. I knew I could use my switches on her to have her, and make her forget, or even make Shanna okay with it, but I was still uncomfortable with the thought of manipulating people with my ability. Shanna had been the first woman to truly like me for me, without me having to use my switches on her. The fact that she was a geek like myself, was just icing to the cake.

I knew I still needed to practice with my ability, though, so I used it on inanimate objects, more often than not. I was getting good at making them quickly and easily, but wasn’t sure how much my practicing was going to help.

Julia cleared her throat, and I realized I hadn’t answered her. “Sure, what do you need?” I tried to keep my voice level, and not sound suspicious of her. It wouldn’t do to upset Shanna’s and Julia’s newfound friendship if I was wrong about her.

“Can we talk somewhere a little more private? I don’t want to discuss it out here where anybody else might hear.” I raised my eyebrow at this suggestion, alarm bells going off in my head. “It’s about what happened the other night at Shanna’s, and I don’t want people to think I’m a slut.” Well, that did sound legitimate enough.

“Sure,” I told her, looking around. I saw a corner we could stand in, which would allow us to see if anyone came close enough to hear, while still being public enough that I was fairly sure she wouldn’t try anything. A small part of me was thankful for Mrs. Polkins’s blowjob; I was sure to think with the proper head right then.

When we got to the corner, I saw her grimace slightly, but she looked around, before saying quietly, “I think I know a way that I can convince Shanna to allow us to be together and no longer be off limits.” I raised my eyebrow again, and she hurried on. “I’m not trying to steal you from her, I promise. It’s just that sometimes it’s nice to have a dick in you, and while I really enjoy what Shanna can do for me, I want more. Who better than you?”

“I don’t know,” I told her uncertainly. It wasn’t that I was adverse to the thought of fucking this beautiful golden blonde hair woman, just that I really didn’t care to hurt Shanna, who had done nothing but care for me.

Julia wasn’t about to give up, though. “You know she loves you, right?” The words delivered so matter-of-factly, seemed to come out of nowhere.

Of course I suspected that she might care for me more than just a little, but the ‘L’ word was a bit strong. Wasn’t it? Thinking back to when she had taken care of me, after I’d been so exhausted from Lela, and everything else since then, I could see how what Julia had said might be true.

“How do you know this?” I asked. “Did she tell you?”

Julia looked down at her feet, while she fidgeted before answering. “Well, no, but you can tell by the way she lights up when you’re around her. She actually DIMS when you leave. I swear it. If that isn’t love, then I don’t know what is.”

“And you want me to use that love, so that she’ll allow me into your pants, is that it?” I couldn’t keep the disgust from entering my voice. If I wasn’t going to use my switches to manipulate Shanna, why would I use her love?

“You don’t have to make it sound like a bad thing,” she admonished me, looking me fiercely in the eyes again. “I saw how you looked at me the other morning. You want it, too. Don’t lie to me. We wouldn’t be hurting her, but helping her. She is my friend now, too, remember. I don’t want to hurt her, but why can’t we be together as well?”

Why indeed? She sounded so convincing; I almost wanted to believe it. Almost…

“Thanks,” I told her, trying to be delicate about it for her sake, “but no thanks.” It wouldn’t do to piss off Shanna’s girlfriend, and end up having Julia as an enemy. That was a sure-fire way to lose Shanna. “I will wait for Shanna to change her mind on her own. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to lay with you, and find out just how good you are, but I can wait.” Good, I thought, that should work.

I was wrong.

“How good I am? You can wait? Who do you think you are? God’s gift to women?” She was yelling now, and despite how secluded this corner was, people were starting to look. “Just because you’ve got a monster cock, and know how to use it, doesn’t mean that every woman is just going to come crawling to you!”

I had no idea what had just happened, but she turned around and stomped away, before I could think of anything else to say. A small crowd had gathered as Julia was yelling, and they were sniggering behind their hands at me. Face turning beet red, I fled the scene.

I decided I’d better do some quick damage control, and called Shanna up, but she didn’t answer, so I left her a message to call me back as soon as possible.

I sensed for her switch, and started walking towards her. Maybe if I talked to her in person, it would be better. Hopefully I was in luck, because her ‘happy’ switch was moving to the on position. Before I was halfway to where she was, she called me back.

“I just got off the phone with Julia,” were the first words that came through the phone. Dammit, I thought, I was too late. But why was she happy? “And saw that I’d missed a call from you.”

“What did she tell you?” I asked, fearing that the other woman had spun some yarn about me coming on to her, and in order to save their friendship, she was telling Shanna about it.

It took me a couple seconds to process what Shanna told me, however.

“She said that she tried to come on to you, and that you turned her away, because you care for me too much.” I could hear a slight undertone of excitement in her voice, as I tried to comprehend the turnaround of what I’d thought Julia had said. “She said that you were completely worthy of my trust, and that I shouldn’t hold back anymore, with you. Is that what happened?”

“Uh…well…” I said stupidly, still trying to switch tracks, “yeah. Yes, it was. I’m so sorry you couldn’t trust her after all. I truly hoped that you and she could be friends again.”

Shanna laughed lightly on the other end of the phone, and while I enjoyed the sound of it, a pit started to form in my stomach.

“You were testing me,” I accused, knowing already that it was true, and feeling my anger rise, because of it.

“Please don’t be mad at me,” she pleaded, and I felt her happy switch drop a little at my anger. “I needed to know that I could trust you, and now I do.”

“And if we are together five years from now, will you test me again?” I shot at her. “Trust needs to be earned, not tested. I trusted you, despite the fact that you never wanted to be official with me.” I knew I was being unfair to her. I had been sleeping around, and she really didn’t deserve my anger, but I hated being manipulated. And the stress of the demons, my children with Lela, and even the other female aliens, all seemed to come to a head right then.

That one thought, that single word, ‘manipulated,’ crossed my mind, and I had to start laughing. All of my efforts to refrain from doing it to other people, and here it was happening to me. I supposed this was payback for what I’d done to Gina, Nancy, and Professor Frankens, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it all.

Still laughing, I hung up the phone. For a second, I debated on walking to her, or walking away. Making up my mind, I started moving.

Shanna saw me coming, and I could see that she had been crying. It was still a bit of a shock to see her with her hair dyed red, and I wondered if she was going to go back to her natural color, or not. I felt bad for causing those tears, but knew that I was going to be causing some more shortly.

She threw her arms around me as I got close, and started to sob against my shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, Nick. I didn’t think you would be upset. It was stupid of me and I shouldn’t have done it. Please, forgive me!’ she pleaded with me.

I placed my hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away.

“No, Shanna,” I told her softly, “you did the right thing.” She looked up at me with hope in her eyes, and I hated myself for what I was about to do. Maybe the demons would kill me, I thought, and then I would be doing her a favor. “I haven’t been faithful to you.” I saw the hurt start in her eyes, but I continued, knowing that I must. “You didn’t want us to be official, so we weren’t.”

“But…but I love you,” she pleaded with me, a split second before I felt her slap on my face. I knew I deserved it, but it still stung.

“There’s more,” I said, deciding to come completely clean with her.

“No, I don’t want to hear it,” she told me through a fresh set of tears. She tried to turn and run away from me, but I wasn’t going to let her. I don’t know why, but something in me wanted her to understand. She was the one person that I could completely be my geeky self with; the one person that I didn’t need to hide my love of anime and sci-fi from, and could actually play a decent video game against. Okay, so truth be told, she was probably better than me at games, but that only made what I felt I needed to do, all the worse.

“Please,” I said softly, and that one soft word seemed to stop her from walking away.

“Who—who was it?” she said, sniffling.

“Can we go somewhere private? I promise to tell you everything.” She looked at me accusingly, and I remembered Julia asking me that same question not that long ago.

Silently she turned and started walking. I hurried to walk next to her, trying to match her fast pace. I remained quiet as we walked, not sure what to say quite yet, but trying to organize everything in my head. When I saw that we were heading to the parking lot, I began to worry that she intended to get in her car and drive off. When we got to her vehicle, however, she unlocked the door, and waited for me to get in the passenger seat. It wasn’t going to get much more private than this, right now.

“So start talking,” she told me, her voice stiff with emotion.

“Before that night in the freezer, I slept with Gina, from Professor Frankens’s class,” I began.

“That was before we were together in the freezer. It doesn’t count,” she told me stiffly.

“No, it doesn’t, but it didn’t stop that night,” I replied. “You already know about your sister, at the party…” I told her everyone I had been with, holding nothing back, even telling her about my sister and mother. She sat in silence, through it all, until I mentioned Lela.

“Wait, you want me to believe you have been with an alien? Do you think I’m stupid?” Her eyes flashed angrily at me, but her tone was oddly soft, and sounded all the more dangerous for it.

“No, I think you are the smartest woman I know.” I told her carefully, but meaning every word. Well, at least the smartest in my age group. “I can prove it,” I told her, and her eyes lifted in disbelief. “She gave me an ability that I think of as switches. Anything I can conceive of as a switch, I can affect. I can also sense those switches. That’s how I was always able tell you apart from your sister. I made a switch in you, but not one in her. That’s why you could never trick me, after the party.”

“You made a switch in me?” she asked, obviously not believing me. “And what does it do, make me fall stupidly in love with you?” The bitter quality to her tone felt like a knife digging into my chest, but at least she was listening.

“No. I think of it as a ‘happy’ switch. If I move it, you will feel happier,” I told her, while looking shamefully at my hands.

“So why don’t you move it now, and just make me happy? Come on. I’m tired of feeling angry, and hurt, and sad, and betrayed. If you really have this ability, make me happy,” she demanded of me, but I wasn’t going to cheat at this. Her emotion was genuine, and I didn’t care to create fake feelings in her.

“I won’t manipulate you like that. I have never used your switch, other than to sense whether I was dealing with you, or your sister. I can still prove it, though,” I hurriedly told her, as I sensed her anger rising. I thought for only a split second, and her car started up. It was too easy for me to do it, as I’d been starting cars since practically the first day.

Shanna jumped when her car started, and she dug the keys out of her pocket. She looked from her steering wheel, to her keys, and back to me for a few seconds, before she could gather enough words to speak.

“That was a fluke. Some trick you’re playing on me. Did you install one of those automatic starters when I wasn’t paying attention?” I knew she was just trying to rationalize everything.

I shook my head, and just for theatrics, snapped my fingers and turned her car off. Her eyes grew wide, and I knew I had her complete attention now.

“Okay, so you have some strange power. I still say you should prove it by making me happy,” she said, obviously still upset with me.

“I don’t want to manipulate you,” I tried to explain to her again, but she wouldn’t have it. Sighing with resignation, I started to push against her ‘happy’ switch. It took some serious effort to move it. I think it was because she was primed against it. Once it started to move, however, I noticed an immediate change in her demeanor, and it became easier and easier to move. “See,” I told her, once I had it all the way on, “You’re happy now. Satisfied?”

“Oh my… I…I can’t believe it. I AM happy. I was so angry a moment ago, but you really can do it!” she tittered.

Not feeling comfortable with myself, or what I’d done, I started to move the switch back off, but she stopped me, sensing what I was doing. “Don’t you dare take this away! Okay, you wanted me to believe, I believe. Just don’t take this away. You’re better than an anti-depressant.” She looked at me with a slight smile on her lips, but it slowly straightened out on its own. “You still cheated on me though…”

Feeling sick and disgusted, the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “I didn’t cheat, because we weren’t officially together. I asked you numerous times, and you kept telling me ‘no’.”

She dropped her chin to her chest, as she contemplated that, and I felt her ‘happy’ switch slip a little more. “You’re right. If you would have said that a few minutes ago, I probably would have blown up, but I can handle it now. You may think of it as manipulating me, and it probably is, but I want you to know that I appreciate you moving that…switch.” She looked back up at me then, before asking, “I don’t understand why this alien gave you this ability, though. Was it just to mess with the human race?”

I was glad she was sitting down, as I knew the next part might be the hardest to explain. “No, she did it to try to save all of us.” I explained to her about the demons, how they had gained their technology, and then turned and used it against their teachers. “The demons will be here in a few days,” I concluded.

“And you’re supposed to be able to stop them with these switches of yours? How are you going to do that? Make them all happy? Start their cars?” She asked me, and despite the guilt I felt for using her switch, I was glad it had removed her anger.

“My sister, Summer, has the same gene I do, but her ability is different. She magnifies my ability, but in order to do so, we have to be touching.” I told her, fearing her wrath would return.

“Touching? How much touching?” she asked hesitantly.

I took a deep breath before answering. “The more contact we have, the more powerful my ability.”

She was silent for a long time, and I was afraid she was going to blow up. When she finally spoke, it was with a calm I didn’t expect. “You mean sex.”

“Not if I don’t have to,” I told her. “If I can do it without having to resort to that, then I won’t go that far.”

“You’re not stupid, Nick,” she berated me instantly. “I know in anime and on TV they always wait till the last second to use their full power, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t already slept with her.” She surprised me by grabbing my hand and looking fiercely into my eyes. “If I have ever meant anything to you, then I only ask one thing.”

“You do mean something to me,” I promised her. “That’s why I am telling you all of this. I also trust you. I have never told anyone all of this. Gina knows about my ability, but she doesn’t know about Lela, or the demons. Summer only knows because of her ability. I wanted you to understand…no, NEEDed to you see what I am up against.”

She shook her head at that. “No, I know you could make me forget if you had to, by using one of your switches, and don’t tell me you wouldn’t, because you don’t want to manipulate me.” I marveled at how smart this woman was, and how well she knew me. “I love you, Nick, and I don’t want to lose you.” She paused to take a breath to steady herself, before continuing. “I want to be there, when you fight against these demons.”

I opened my mouth to protest that it would be too dangerous. That Lela’s ship would be the first casualty if I failed, but she covered my mouth with her hand. “I will be there, or we are through.” She moved my head up and down, forcing me to agree with it, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Now get out of my car. I have a lot to think about, and I want to make sure they are my own thoughts.” I knew she didn’t think I could actually control her thoughts, but understood her motives. Well, most of them at least.

Silently I stepped out, knowing that she needed her space. I had done all that I could. The rest was up to her. Before she pulled away, she rolled down the window and leaned over. “Oh, and Nick, all of the others stop, unless I’m there.” She sped away before I could answer.

I didn’t look forward to breaking it off with Gina, but knew that I could give up the rest with ease.

I turned my steps towards home, and started walking.

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Author’s note: I know many of you are fond of Shanna, and won’t like what happened in this chapter. All I will say is: Wait till Chapter 20.

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