Cerf Grand-Veneur I

As Caleb hit the ground, the group looked on in stunned silence between the jeering face of Lucian and the collapsed master. Time seemed to slow down, and then Noise.

Maddy clutched at her hair, fell to her knees, and began to openly cry. Both Eliza and Mira grabbed Maya’s arms as she let out a blood-curdling shriek and began to attempt to hit herself. Noemi and Lily turned on the smirking Lucian. Noemi had her fist raised and roared out as she attempted slug it out with the demon. Lily seemed less sure what to do with her body, but tossed her body towards the host with matching ferocity.

Standing still, for Amy, it was like a droning note was consuming their perception; a high-pitched whine that rang in her ears like tinnitus. She had to think. Gun. There was something, had to be. Shot. In all the seasons she reviewed, something had to tell her what to do. Dying. She could only stand paralysed as Lily and Noemi were flung backward with a careless wave of the host's hand. Dead. She had to figure out priorities and get everyone together. Then What?!

As her brain began to spiral, a single voice echoed out amidst the chaos. “He’s ok!” Everyone turned to see Stella kneeling by Caleb's body. She had undone his shirt and, to everyone’s surprise, there was no blood- no wound of any kind to be seen. Then, equally surprising, Caleb groaned and moved to sit up.

Stella’s hands moved to support his back, but were gently pushed aside as Maddy leaned in and hugged his torso. Maya’s efforts to harm herself were put on pause as she brought her hands tight to her chest as if she was trying to bring them inside her sternum. Noemi rose from the ground and raced over while Lily stood stone still. Caleb managed to finally open his mouth, glaring in the direction of the host, ”What the fuck was that?”

Delighted and sinister in equal expression, Lucian gave an exaggerated shrug as Andrea, next to him, beamed over at Caleb, “An appropriate introduction, the audience doesn’t want boring explanations, they want action, bigger the better.” His eyes turned skyward, “Isn’t that right?”

“You shot me,” Caleb said flatly. His rage was being kept at bay by the women around him, reminding him not to needlessly lash out. Even still, his face was red, and his eyes stayed narrowed, “How the fuck is this supposed to be entertaining? I thought you were hosting a sex show, not a snuff film.”

The host levelled his eyes on Caleb, who walked forward and leaned in, “Romance! Not sex, and judging by the crowd around you, I say it worked a treat.” He flashed a grin that showed off his unnaturally sharp teeth. Did demons even need to eat, or were they just there to denote his true nature as a soul-torturing predator?

Ignoring the exchange, Eliza reached out and touched Caleb’s shoulder, “Babe, are you ok?”

Caleb nodded and began to redo the buttons on his shirt, “I’m fine, and still waiting on a real explanation.”

The demon turned his back on the group and snapped his fingers, and a large wooden crate appeared. He swivelled on his heel and landed his slapstick firmly on the ground, “Today’s challenge is a classic of the genre, the Transformation Gun Challenge! But not only that, we are doing something a little different.”

The demon turned to seemingly no one and leaned in and gesticulated with his hands, “For those of you new to the show, the TF Gun challenge is where we arm our delightful contestants with the power that they claim we harass them with. They then are set on each other, people from their lives, or alternate realities, to wreak havoc and see how it feels to be on the other side of the fence.”

He reached into the crate and pulled out two things. The first was a notepad with shimmering metallic paper and a small pistol-like firearm, similar to a revolver, except the revolving chamber also seemed to extend to the barrel and only possessed three chambers. Lucian spun the chamber with his finger, “Now that's all well and good, folks, but we decided it wasn’t personal enough. We know the viewers of our program won’t settle for the same old crap everyone’s seen before, so we set our goals higher!” Lucian threw his arms up.

There was something deeply unsettling about the way Lucian was performing as the crowd looked on. They were used to the difference between the Lucian who was putting on a show for the camera and the one behind it who felt like he was dragging his feet at every turn. The issue was that, before you could feel the edge of the production, the distaste at the fringe suggested that the demon was trying to get this over with as soon as possible. The Lucian in front of them was revelling in it; something had changed.

Perhaps out of discomfort, Stella called out, “Stop hamming it up and get it over with, what the hell are you making us do to each other?”

Lucian turned and lowered his hand to set the notepad down and tutted, swaying his finger back and forth, “So impatient, Rome wasn’t built in a day, you know? It’s called setting the tone! Because you all are getting along so well these days.” His grin broadened, “But sure, no more gilding the lily. Today’s Challenge is TF GUN: MASTER SEASON!”

Caleb moved to rise from his seat. The pain in his chest was mostly gone at this point, and he gently patted Maddy’s head as he moved out of her grasp, “So the reason you shot me…”

“A preview of things to come!” Lucian laughed and tossed the gun in his hand up, clicked his slap stick down and then in the hands of each woman appeared an identical weapon. “In just a few minutes, you all will be separated from each other, this arena will transform into a labyrinth, and your goal will be to hunt down our master here”

Mira looked over and frowned as she turned the pepperbox in her hand over, “I’m hearing an awful lot of gun here and not a lot of transformation. We are not going to hunt Caleb down and shoot him for your sick amusement, especially when he has baggage surrounding that.”

“Mira…” Caleb looked over, surprised to one, hear this from her, and two, for her to remember the specifics of the incident that caused his phobia.

Lucian was undeterred, his smile staying wide, “Not to worry, as you saw from earlier, these bullets cause no lasting harm, a small percussive ****, no lasting damage. Also, as for transformations.” He lifted the notepad from the ground up, “That’s where this comes in”

The demon tapped his slapstick on the ground again, and each woman now had a silver piece of paper and a pen alongside their firearm, “Each round our master has received a transformation from the audience, left up to question what he will get and how it will affect you, his loving harem” His arms spread wide to gesture to them all, “Now it is your chance to cancel that question mark hanging over the group by seizing this opportunity.”

He raised his hand, and the individual sheets of paper hung in the air, “These sheets will enchant your guns with a Transformation of your choice.” He pointed at Caleb with the slapstick, “To provide for our glorious master instead of leaving it up to chance.” He raised his hand as he saw Maddy rise on her elbows, “And to anyone about to ask, no, it is not optional. We will only begin once you all have chosen a transformation for our dear Caleb. Speaking of our master-” Lucian chuckled as he reached into the crate, which vanished as he pulled an umbrella out of it, “We’re not leaving you empty-handed. This is one of the world’s finest assassins’ tools, and luckily, she’s indisposed at the moment, and as it fits your aesthetic, we thought- hey, what the hell” He tossed the umbrella to Caleb’s feet. “Both a firearm and a shield capable of warding off your pursuers' bullets”

Caleb leaned down to pick up the umbrella and then blinked, “Wait, why do I need a firearm? I thought the whole point was hunting me.”

“Oh yes, I should mention you are free to target each other; it's the primary reason we put you back in these suits. When not aimed at the master, the bullets will strip another contestant of their clothing, and if they're naked, they’ll experience a mildly incapacitating orgasm. And while you all only start with three bullets, our master has an infinite magazine.” Lucian watched with delight as that information washed over the group, and they looked around at each other.

Lucian continued swinging his slapstick along, “A few more points to note, Sabotages are not only allowed but encouraged as you venture through the ever-changing halls. In fact, along with extra bullets, sabotages will be hidden throughout the maze for your use. Normal rules apply, though, you may only carry one at a time.”

Maya **** herself to drag a hand from her chest and raised it, and without waiting to be called on, spoke up, “What about VP? If only one of us can win by hitting Caleb, how will VP be decided?”

Lucian twirled his stick and pointed it at Maya, “Nice segue, we can always count on our resident gaming sociopath to keep us on task! You will have three hours within the labyrinth to hit our honoured master with a transformation. During that time, you will be awarded VP based on your effort in the game. 12 VP for hitting the master, 3 VP for every shot taken at the master or another contestant, -6 VP for not taking any shots at the master. We also have two failsafe rules in case any of you make the mistake of thinking you’re clever.” He raised his fingers in air quotes.

“The first is that if no one manages to hit the master within the time frame allotted, everyone will lose 12 VP. None of this ‘The only way to win is to not to play’ bullshit. That’s for our contestants.” His eyes glared at Caleb, “As for our master, if I determine he does not make a good faith effort to avoid you all or participate in the game, everyone will lose 25 VP, regardless of their efforts. So don’t ruin this for your girls, master.”

Caleb bit his lip and then turned to look at the woman surrounding him, “We don’t have a choice in this. No grudges, ok? We can get through this.”

Andrea licked her lips subconsciously as she looked at the group. She could feel the tension in the air, the desire for trust mingled with the scent of impending betrayal. They all wanted to believe they could go into this saying “no hard feelings,” but none of them meant it. Their affections for each other, their hatreds, and insecurities, it formed a delightful melange that she could sense the wellspring of anxiety and negativity ready to blossom. She glanced over at Lucian, such a good boy, he knew how to make sure she enjoyed her time here.

Clapping his hands together, Lucian swayed as his heels, “Alright, girls, let's get those transformation ideas written down! It’s time to get this show on the road. Remember, if you don’t claim this TF for Caleb, another girl will. It’s eat or be eaten!”

Staring at the shimmering piece of paper, everyone felt their hearts beating in their chest, trying to imagine a best-case scenario, what they reasonably thought would yield the good ending. And with various levels of determination, each hand took hold of the silver pen and marked their paper. As they finished writing, the silver paper glowed and then levitated, wrapping around their individual pepperbox, swirling around it and then vanishing, leaving each woman with only the gun in her hand.

“Fantastic, it’s time!” Lucian waved his hands as eight circles on the edge of the arena started to glow, “Girls, find a starting position. Caleb to the centre.” He extended a hand to Andrea, “We will take to the stands,” He began to walk with her, his slapstick hooked on one of the bars of Reyna’s levitating cage and dragging her with them.

Feeling no reason to delay the inevitable, the harem began to move towards their positions. Caleb felt the weight of the umbrella in his hand and the tightness in his chest and knew that the feeling must be echoed in each woman’s mind. Once again, the demon had found a way to set them all up against each other, and they had **** but to go along with it. He let out a deep exhale, trying to focus.

As the last woman made it to their mark, multicoloured banners flashed around the edge of the arena. It took the group only a moment to realise that each banner was for a different contestant, displaying their designed transformation:

Lily:

Connected Souls. Caleb knows the heartbreak that can come from miscommunication; now there will be no room for it. When Caleb is alone with a member of his harem, he can form a temporary psychic link that allows them to share their thoughts and feelings with each other.

Eliza:

Wisdom of Solomon: Caleb is responsible for the well-being of everyone in the harem, which means needing to know when to act. Caleb will now have an innate sense of when members of his harem are lying to him or others.

Mira:

Leader of Men: Caleb is the head of the harem, but in order to support them, it’s important he be capable outside of their circle. Caleb will gain magically enhanced charisma that will make him more appealing and attractive to individuals within and outside of the harem, and he will naturally draw others to him.

Noemi

Strong Seed: An important part of raising a harem is the propagation of children. Caleb will now have complete control over whether or not he impregnates a member of his harem. In addition, children who are conceived this way will be born healthy without complications.

Amy

Executive Power: Protecting his harem is important to Caleb, and now he will have his ability to do so increase. Each round, Caleb will be given the ability to veto one transformation, leaving only the remaining two for a vote.

Maddy

Comfort of the Flock: Everyone knows Caleb deals with high levels of stress and anxiety; now his harem will provide comfort to him. Caleb’s anxiety will decrease in proportion to the number of Harem members he is currently with

Stella

I Know What You Are: Many of Caleb’s harem members are no longer human. Why should he miss out on all the fun? Caleb takes on the traits of a vampire: pale skin, red eyes, hunger for blood, the works.

Maya

-No Gods, No Masters: Before now, Caleb was held separate from his harem in terms of the game; no longer. Caleb will now receive a stipend of BP each round and only be able to make purchases using it. He will also be treated as a contestant for the purposes of transformations, including Sabotages, and be able to use Sabotages himself.

As the walls began to rise around them, Lily only had a small window to let out a “Maya?! What the hell?!” before she was enclosed in the labyrinth.

Above them, a giant hourglass appeared, golden sand trickling down. The second challenge had begun.