Aceto Dolce

Mira’s and Eliza’s searching was much less targeted than Caleb’s had been. While they were aware of some of the locations that the master searched, the obvious strategy would be for him to focus on these areas he was more confident about Stella showing up in, leaving them with the others. Places like the shopping district and the restaurant area where she might have any number of reasons to be in, to places like the church, which were entirely random, but at least they would be able to cross it off the list.

All the while, their searching went by in relative silence, broken only by the calling out of the imp’s name and confirming the next location. Eventually, as they looked around the miniature island where Maddy had taken Caleb on their date, the agent had decided it was time to speak up.

“You didn’t need to bring me with you. I know I told you hating me would set you back if it was all you focused on, but maybe you're trying too hard.” She said the words calmly, trying not to betray her own feelings regarding the matter.

Eliza shot the Bengali woman a sharp glare. “Searching is more efficient with two people. I’m not doing anything of the sort. I still hate you, but you’re right, I'm not going to let it distract me from what needs to be done.” She sat down on a large rock. “Besides, I didn’t bring you here just to look for Stella, though if we found her, it would set my mind at ease.”

Raising an eyebrow, Mira walked around the perimeter while keeping her gaze focused on the professor. “What exactly did you have planned?”

“There's loose information out there, and I want answers. Surely you noticed Reyna’s changed appearance and bondage during the last challenge?” Eliza mimed the fox ears with her hands.

Mira gave a curt nod, “Yeah, I noticed. You want to press her for information?” Eliza nodded. “Why include me?”

The professor gave a beleaguered sigh, “I know my shortcomings; I’m smart, but I don’t see all the angles as you do. Lucian might only let this happen once, if at all, so I didn’t want to waste the opportunity.”

“And why not with everyone present then?” Mira felt she knew the answer but wanted to clarify before moving forward.

“Too many chefs spoil the broth, as I said. Who knows how much of an opportunity we’ll have for this? The others, while well-intentioned, are likely to keep the conversation from being focused, and right now that's what I need. The two others I’d consider for this…well, one currently isn't up to it, and the other is missing.”

“I understand,” Though admittedly, Mira’s chest ached at the thought of being down to being the last resort. She collected herself quietly. “Shall we?”

Eliza looked up and called out, “Reyna?! Can we talk to you for a second?”

In a flash of flames, the assistant appeared between the two of them, dressed in a black and white striped jumpsuit and with heavy handcuffs around her wrists, which she dramatically raised and pouted while looking up, “Seriously, Lucy?!” A disembodied chuckle of the demon followed her short outburst.

Wincing but trying to get over it as quickly as possible, Reyna forced a smile to her face, “What can I do for our resident team hatefuck? Oh, oops, can’t say that; B&B fans will have a field day.”

Eliza ignored the comment and pushed forward, “Why are you a fox now? Why are you imprisoned? What exactly has changed between the last two rounds?”

Reyna’s ears stuck up, and her tail swished. “Oh jeeze, I’m a fox because I’ve always been one. The form you saw me in before was a glamour I put on for the show's benefit, to lull you guys into a sense of security.” She gave a chuckle, “I’m a prisoner now because Lucy decided he was fed up with me messing with the way he ran things, and so he put a big ol mean stop to what I’m allowed to do while on the show. Pretty much I can show up, answer questions, that’s it. I can’t even teleport without him giving the say-so!”

Mira narrowed her eyes, “What were you doing that made him feel he had to do that?”

“Oh…um” Reyna shifted her weight awkwardly from foot to foot, “Well, see, the one who wrote the season was me, not Lucy. I’m also the one that gathered the producers to back it, so I was just trying to show him how I would do things and make things more exciting! He didn’t like that…”

Eliza paused and stared down at the fox girl, who, despite all her performance, didn’t seem much put out by any of this at all. The professor was contemplating what next to ask when Mira cut in.

“If you wrote it, why have Lucian at all? Why couldn’t you just host it?” She kept her eyes trained on the assistant, looking for any signs of deceit.

Reyna huffed, “Jeeze, is it so hard for people to believe I didn’t want the job? Ok fine, even if you don’t believe that- even if I DID want the job, Its impossible for me to be a host for Harem Hotel.”

Eliza’s eyes widened, “Impossible? Why?”

“Man, do you still not know who I am? What are kids taught these days? I’m Reynard-THE Reynard the Fox.” Reyna puffed her chest out proudly.

Mira looked confused and looked to Eliza, “Are you familiar at all?”

“Just some medieval poems I learned years ago, but not enough to know what that has to do with anything. Also, to my memory, wasn’t Reynard a male fox?”

Reyna snickered, “But Reynard isn’t just any fox; he’s THE fox. And there is so much conflation with FOXY and women, that it’s nothing for me to choose to be one. And if I have to choose, why would I not be a gorgeous woman?”

Eliza frowned, “It still doesn’t answer my question.”

Reyna tapped her foot, annoyed, and bounced the tips of her fingers against the top of her head dramatically, “I’m an allegory, is why, dumb dumbs! Reynard the fox represents the common folk, using guile to outdo those in power, whether it's the church, the state, or the more physically imposing. I can’t be a host because it’s antithetical to what I am. I can’t BE authority. Best case scenario it just doesn't work, worst case it cancels out my existence.”

Eliza nodded, “Because you represent the anti-authority. Makes sense.” Mira regarded the professor with an expression that said: “I’ll take your word for it.”

Gathering herself back up, Mira pressed, “So Lucian took what little control you had away, and now you’re trapped here like us.”

“Um, sure, if you want to see it that way? I guess.” Reyna giggled with her hand in front of her mouth.

“Why don’t you seem more nervous? Couldn’t Lucian just nix you out of the show and send you where you came from?” Mira pressed.

Reyna rolled her eyes. “I can’t do anything, but he can’t get rid of me, as I said. I'm the one the producers listen to. And he needs them on his side. Or well, yeah, we’ll leave it at that-” She giggled more unrestrained as flames began to lick around her form.

Eliza hated how confident, despite everything, this fox seemed to be, and so she called out, “What is your plan then?”

The flames gathered around Reyna’s feet, and she turned her gaze on the two contestants, her expression shifting to a manic grin.

“Plan? Plan?!” Reyna cackled, “I’m Reyna the fox, motherfuckers! Look up what I’m about. You’ll see that I don’t need plans to come out on top.”

With a final flash of fire, the fox was gone, leaving the two contestants staring at the spot at where she’d been.

Eliza looked to Mira. “Did we learn anything useful?”

“There’s a hierarchy to this and…it’s not united. We’ve thought of our captors as a united front, but they’re all trying to play each other, it seems.” Mira gazed at the sand, resting her chin in her hand.

Eliza frowned, “Anything we can do with that?”

“Not yet…but…” Mira shook her head, “It was a good plan. We know more than we did and…things are slightly more in our favor than we knew. There’s something there.”

They stood there quietly for a few moments before Eliza broke the silence, “Shall we keep looking?”

“Until we hear otherwise from Caleb, it’s probably for the best.” They made their way back to the Gondola.

Caleb was just finishing stripping off his clothes and getting into the perfectly temperate water, trying to ignore how he could feel Andrea’s gaze on him and trying to ignore even more so the effect that gaze was having on his body. He lowered himself into the steaming water and settled back, staring across at the woman measuring him carefully with serpentine eyes as she carefully and precisely crossed her legs.

She regarded him with amusement before asking, “You are aware of how the game is played?”

“Question for question, I ask you something you answer, and then we trade back and forth. First one to refuse to answer loses?” Caleb tried to keep the crack in his voice from showing as Andrea tilted her head to show off her collarbone.

“Yes, essentially, but we will be changing the win condition. The point is to entertain me. If you fail to do so with your answers or questions, I kick you out, and you don’t get the destination of where your precious Stella is.” The devil batted her eyelashes innocently at Caleb.

Caleb frowned; he hated how much control he was handing over to this woman, but he also knew he didn’t have much in the way of options. He closed his eyes and then asked, “What’s your reason for keeping Lucian around-”

“No, try again. We aren’t at the point that will be entertaining to answer. Consider that my one warning.” While her voice was light, Andreas's gaze was intense, and it made it clear that most others who heard that did so in much more dangerous circumstances.

Caleb swallowed, “Why rebel against Heaven?”

“Ooooh.” A soft trill rose from Andrea’s voice, “Much better. The answer is fairly simple. I was a seraphim; I loved the beauty that formed creation, that I took part in forming. We angels were the closest beings to the Creator and yet…he gave free will to humans and in so doing marred creation with its first defect.”

“So you hate-” Andrea raised her hand, cutting Caleb off,

“It’s my turn, so hold on to that question.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, “Which of the women here do you desire the most romantically? The one you want to build a life with?”

“I-” Caleb froze; his instinct was to run away, to hide and to avoid. It wasn’t fair. He clutched his chest and forced the answer out, “Maddy, she’s so sweet, and it feels comforting to be around her.”

“Aw! That’s so precious!” Andrea giggled and then extended her hand. “Your turn.”

Caleb saw no reason to stray from his initial instinct. “Do you hate humans?”

“I believe I told you my answer to that before, but I also believe you’re referring to the reason I fell and their part in it? No, I hate the creator allowing you to ignore the divine connection and allowing you to besmirch it with your filth. There are humans that rise above this tendency, but the fact that so many sink to the level of depravity they do…is exhausting.”

“Funny opinion for a devil to have, isn’t it? Shouldn’t you love sin?” Caleb couldn't help but take the jab, but far from reacting, Andrea just pushed forward with her own question.

“Which woman here do you desire the most carnally? The woman who you seek for physical pleasure that overrides your senses.” She regarded Caleb carefully as he exhaled.

Unfortunately, unlike the last one, he knew this straight from the jump. “Noemi.” He responded flatly.

“Ah yes, in spite of or because of your past with her, I wonder? There is so much anger wrapped up in your sense of joy.” Andrea tittered, tracing a finger over her lips.

“It’s my turn now, right?” Caleb tried to cut her off, but it was clear the devil had made clear what she had wanted. “Why would a devil hate bad humans? Isn't that your business?”

“Do your works say we won our rebellion?” Andrea smirked, “Not a question. When we fell, what changed was not service to god but our positions. We were now forced to serve and act in tandem with humanity, which many like myself found tedious. I punish sinners; would it not make sense then that I hate the acts they commit?”

Caleb had to admit it made a twisted sort of sense, but it threw a major wrench in the common rhetoric and conceptualization of cosmology.

Andrea didn’t let him dwell on it for long. “Which of the women here do you want to see win the most? Who do you think needs the wish?”

“Maya,” Caleb said without thinking; he felt he knew what her wish was, though he couldn’t be positive. But he felt she was the only one who felt incomplete.

“You’re getting better at answering; maybe you just needed the right set of circumstances.” Andrea gently clapped.

Caleb frowned. “What purposes do devils and demons serve?”

“Got you curious?” Andrea kicked her foot gently in the water. “The question is overall too broad, but what I do…are you aware of the concept of Karma? Not the spiritualist western conceptualization of it, the actual meaning of the word.”

“It’s like sticky stuff on your soul, right? Good or Bad, it attaches to it and weighs it down.” Caleb recalled an eastern philosophy class that Eliza had taught.

“Very good, well souls don't want to let go of that stuff; they lament, they anguish, but they refuse to accept. By torturing the soul, we get it to let go and prepare.” Andrea lifted water in a cupped hand and gently let it trickle out

“Prepare for what?”

“Ah-ah ah, it’s my turn.” Andrea smiled, “Which of the girls would you most want to see fail? Who do you want to see punished?”

Caleb grimaced, knowing it was wrong and still not being able to ignore his gut feeling, “Mira.”

“None of these, I’m sure, are surprises, but isn’t it nice to have it out in the open?” She lowered her eyelids and carefully regarded Caleb as he chose his last question.

“What are you preparing souls for?” Caleb felt like all of this, from beginning to end, had gone the way Andrea wanted, but nevertheless could not stop his curiosity from getting the better of him

“The next life, the return to the universe in whatever the soul's next form takes. Mayhaps it won't even be a living thing, but it needs cleansed before it can serve its next purpose. Now for my last question.” The word last made Caleb’s ears perk up, and he realized he was unconsciously leaning forward.

“None of the girls you’ve mentioned are Stella. So why, why do you search for her like this if she doesn't want to be found and she holds no special meaning to you?” Her eyes searched his, waiting for the response.

“I don’t need a special reason; she doesn't need to be the person I want to marry or have sex with the most. I don’t need her to win the competition. She’s important to me, I care about her, and if she’s hurting, I don’t want her to be alone.”

Andrea raised her hands to her mouth and let out a shuddering sigh, “Ah, so beautiful.” She dragged her hands down and revealed a sharp smile. “You’ve done a marvelous job entertaining me, boy.”

Caleb Stood up and looked down at the devil. “So where is she?”

Andrea closed her eyes and then, with a shudder, opened them again with certainty. “You’ll find the imp in the Asterium.”

Caleb scrambled out and began to gather his clothes, with Andrea amusedly watching from the water.