Salade Carmen

Caleb woke from his sleep with a groan, his body bent all out of shape. He turned to view his bedmate Stella, who after he had placed her in bed had spread her body out to dominate as much real estate as she could manage which had resulted in either a hand or foot in his back all night. Caleb sighed, Stella had been knocked out after their little punishment session and even now, drooling on his pillows looked blissfully carefree.

He pulled the blankets off and moved to the dresser to quietly get changed. If he was being honest, he was happy she was asleep. He didn’t know how to talk to the bartender after last night. Last night in a messy cocktail of horny and angry he had spanked her instead of fucking her, but even then he felt like she had gotten exactly what she wanted out of the deal. The affairs of being manipulated and used yesterday left him feeling dirty.

He changed into his tracksuit and put on some sneakers, he could at the very least get out some of the pent-up frustrations he had been left with by exercising and then maybe after that a long shower. Hopefully, she would be gone by then.

Exiting his room and heading down the elevator he made his way to the Gymnasium only to hear that he wasn’t the first one there. He couldn’t see anyone but the sound of grunting and impacts made it clear that someone else was there. Caleb proceeded further in and found that part of the gym rose up into a boxing ring and inside the ring was one nervous-looking faun wearing punching mitts and opposite of her, dressed in a sports bra and shorts and wailing on the mitts was Amy.

Amy hadn’t noticed Caleb's approach and from the looks of it, the sweat on her skin and the elevated nature of her breathing she had been at this for quite a bit. She hammered away at the pads in the fauns possession yielding a surprised yelp each time from the diminutive figure. After a particularly ferocious attack ending in a sharp kick, Amy stopped and walked to the corner to grab her water bottle when she turned and noticed Caleb there watching her.

“Jesus, you could announce yourself you know instead of just lurking there and giving me a potential aneurysm.” She scoffed as she wiped her mouth of any moisture remaining from the water bottle.

“I didn’t want to interrupt, you looked like you were in a groove there. Didn’t want to throw you off rhythm.” Caleb walked up and leaned his crossed arms against the ring.

The faun looked between them and then raised the mitts at Amy who waved it off. Not needing to be told twice, the faun disarmed itself and scuttled out of the ring.

Caleb watched as it ran off and then focused back on Amy, “Didn’t know you boxed, though I am also not really surprised.”

Cocking her hip Amy stared down at Caleb as she began to take her Mitts off, “Should I be offended?”

“No just, you always seem pretty confident in your physicality, made me think you did something with your muscles rather than them just being for show.”

Amy smirked and continued packing her mitts up, “Muay Thai actually, though they didn’t have the stuff for it here. Dad signed me up for boxing as a kid though so it's not totally off. Surprised to see you up and about, I had assumed that once Stella got her hands on you she’d wear you out.”

Caleb’s face darkened, “I mean in a way she did…I’m certainly drained after yesterday.”

Amy’s expression shifted from amusement to concern, “Wait, what did she do?”

Caleb sighed and then began to explain the previous day's events to the Oni, from the time Maddy noticed the sweets were missing to the events that had occurred in the Master’s suite. Amy’s face throughout the explanation had shifted from confusion to disdain, to full anger.

“Where is she now?” the Oni’s voice was low and menacing.

Caleb looked over his shoulder nervously, “I think she’s still asleep in the Master’s suite.”

“Uh huh, can you go ahead and invite me up, wait it’s my day, guess you don’t have to how convenient.” She gathered her stuff and climbed out of the ring.

Caleb instinctively reached out and took hold of Amy’s shoulder, “Amy what are you planning on doing.”

“I just want to talk with her.” The tone in the Oni’s voice did not inspire confidence in the idea that this was all she had planned.

“Amy, starting a fight over this…” Caleb said warily but was stopped by Amy brushing his arm off her.

“Oh I’m sorry, is it wrong for me to be upset? She fucking used you and Maddy yesterday like fucking toys. At least Maya sees us all as players in this sick game. She made you have a panic attack Caleb! Don’t tell me you’re gonna just roll over and let her get away with it! Don’t tell me you’re that much of a spineless pushover.” Amy’s eyes were ablaze with a righteous fury.

Caleb swallowed and kept his voice even, “No she shouldn’t get away with it. What she did is wrong, I feel awful after yesterday but it shouldn’t come from you. It should come from me.”

“Caleb, what the fuck do you mean?” Amy relaxed her posture a little even as Caleb could see her muscles were still tensed with emotion.

“You’re the one who told me I needed to think about my position as Master more seriously. If you go after Stella now…it’s just going to set a precedent for everyone to fight amongst each other. But if I punish her, maybe I can discourage that behaviour from happening again.” Caleb kept eye contact with Amy the entire time, wanting her to know he was serious about this.

A chuckle was heard before the words, “What an interesting proposition.” And in a burst of flames, Lucian appeared alongside the two standing there looking at them both with a manic grin. “I could offer a solution to you, a minor addition to your authority as the master to make that possible.”

Both Amy and Caleb tensed and Amy looked more nervous than Caleb had seen her, reaching out and squeezing Caleb’s hand and shooting him a look that screamed for him to be careful. Caleb matched stares with the demon, “What do you mean? I’m not agreeing to anything without knowing the specifics.”

“Oh my, someone has a fire lit under them, maybe this competition has been good for you after all!” Lucian grinned before extending his hand, “It’s simple really. At the end of the day all VP comes from the grace of the master. I will simply give you the ability to revoke someone’s ability to earn VP until they have met a certain condition. Alongside a reminder of their condition on the daily so they don’t forget. It’s really straight forward and you would be the one setting the terms. Isn’t that fair? That said I will make it so the condition must be achievable and measurable. That way there are no ambiguities or abuses.”

Caleb paused and looked over at Amy seeking guidance but to his surprise, Amy was doing her best to avoid eye contact and Caleb could tell by her expression that she was unsure of herself. Still, this seemed to answer the question of how Caleb could impose any authority on the harem. As much as he had been saying that he should be the one to punish Stella, he had been blanking on ways to actually do it. He swallowed his throat feeling raw before answering, “Alright fine, that sounds…reasonable” He took the demon’s hand and keeled over as he felt an impossible heat flood his body all while Lucian looked on and smiled.

Slowly, the heat faded away and the Master gasped, “Is it done?”

Lucian extended his arms and nodded giving a toothy grin, “Yes Master you now possess the ability to revoke the right to earn VP, you just need to say “I revoke…their name and then until…and your condition”

Caleb rose to his feet and cleared his throat, “I revoke Stella until she apologizes to everyone she hurt yesterday.” There was a pounding in Calebs chest, like his heartbeat suddenly became the only thing in the world and then after a moment, he knew it was done. Amy was watching him nervously while Lucian beamed.

“Ah, they grow up so fast. I will let Ms. Vincent know. Goodbye for now Master” The demon bowed and then vanished into flames.

Amy then spoke up for the first time, “Be careful with that…we can talk more about it later but Hosts offering things up to the Master swing wildly in nature and I just…be careful I didn’t want to tell you “no” because honestly, Stella deserves it and maybe this will help but…just be careful.”

Caleb then stretched and sighed, “Well, a deal with the devil is not how I had intended for our date to start today.” he chuckled, “I did come down here originally to get a workout in, would you mind spotting me as I use some of the free weights?”

Amy let out her own sigh and then smiled, “Yeah I think I can do that much.”

The two of them made their way over to the weights and both tried to not overthink what had just happened.

In the Innamorti Suite Lily was sitting on the bed drying her hair to the sound of Maddy in the shower. Once again their morning had started with her chastity belt going off and being covered in glittery aphrodisiac pollen. At the very least they were easily the most hygienic members of the harem having to wash their bedsheets and shower every day since they got here.

Lily was living in a haze at this point. The prolonged edging made everything feel like she was moving through water as the heat radiating from her core distracted her. Even just now it took so much concentration to brush her hair and she had spent several minutes distracted and brushing the same section repeatedly.

And while her body was consumed with a **** need to get off, her mind was consumed with the conversation that she had had with Amy yesterday. She stared in the direction of the shower. She knew she had to talk with Maddy, and knew that she had to get this misunderstanding cleared up. Amy had even said that the person who did it was likely trying to help. Just…she couldn’t understand going behind everyone’s back like that.

If it was Noemi…maybe she’d get that. Noemi had been on edge since she got here. It seemed like this competition was really getting to her. If Lily could sympathize with anything it was that. But Maddy? They were friends, right? They had gotten close almost immediately after getting here.

The water stopped in the shower and Lily heard as Maddy got out and started to take care of her after-shower needs. Lily knew now was the best time to do it, just rip the band-aid off and get it over with. So when Maddy came out dressed in a towel, she found herself rising to her feet suddenly which startled the shorter girl and made her recoil.

“Um..” Maddy clutched at her towel and looked to Lily, “Did you need something? Sorry, am I in the way?”

Lily bit her lip and even as she opened her mouth she felt her stomach flipping, “I um, no you’re not in the way Maddy. I just had something that I needed to ask you.”

“Oh, um Ok,” Maddy watched Lily carefully wondering if she was mad at her for enjoying her date. All yesterday it had felt like the flower girl had been avoiding her. She tried not to get nervous but could feel herself starting to fidget as she went to her dresser and began to deal with getting dressed.

Lily opened her mouth to speak, “Did you…have you” She felt her throat close up and felt her heart beating as in her minds eyes she saw Maddy turn to her with knife in hand.

“That’s right it was me, I was never your friend. Of course not. Why would anyone actually like you and want to be around you? You have to pretend to be someone else to even get people to pay attention to you. I’m just glad you were too stupid to catch on. Now I can run off with Caleb and everyone else and we will be happy. You would only drag us down”

“Lily, oh gosh Lily are you ok?” The Maddy in her vision was cut off by the genuine article bending over her. Lily didn’t know when but at some point she had fallen to the ground, both hands clinging tightly to her chest which was now rapidly rising in falling as she tried to catch her breath. At some point, she had stopped breathing as well.

She looked up at Maddy who was now massaging her back, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t ask her, if that was the truth she couldn’t handle it. Tears began to well up in her eyes. And she raised her hands and began to openly sob into them.

Maddy paused, “I’m sorry…this is all my fault isn’t it?”

Distressed, Lily stared up as the chef continued, “You avoided me all yesterday because you were upset with me for enjoying my date with Caleb. I get it…I know that he hurt you and now it must hurt to see me enjoy spending time with him. I betrayed you, I know it’s all my fault.

Lily stared wide-eyed and reached out, “No, Maddy you don’t understand, it’s not that it’s just that-” The words caught in her throat, she tried so hard to **** them out but she couldn’t do it no matter what the words wouldn’t come.

Maddy took a step away, tears starting to form in her own eyes, “No it’s ok Lily I get it, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry I’m such a bad friend. I’m the worst sorry I-” The tears started flowing and she made a break for the door leaving the room and leaving Lily alone.

The flower girl felt her throat close in on herself and she impotently slammed the ground with her green fist. Why? Why was she so pathetic? How could she do this?

With those questions unanswered she fell in on herself and wept.