Was I a rapist? The thought flashed through my head for a moment before I discarded it. No. I know she couldn’t say no, but she had to have participated, I wasn’t even slightly rough, not in the dream, and here I was asleep.

I sighed and stepped away from her, and she whimpered a little, straightening up. She had a very healthy glow, and I remembered that I had ordered her to sleep without clothing. I would have remembered picking her up from where she was sleeping, so she must have stood when I had, and come closer to me.

“Girl. Let me ask you something.” I said, and put my hand on her shoulder. “And this is very important. What happened exactly?”

She looked at me worriedly, “You sat up in bed, and then I sat up because you were awake. You smiled at me and stood up, and so I stood up. You held out your arms and took a step towards me, and I wondered if you were going to hug me, so I stepped forward because I liked that, and then you wrapped your arms around me and started nuzzling and then teasing, and then you played with my breasts.”

She shivered again, “And you were all hard and started kissing my head and then my ear and then teasing me, with your hands, and I think I came, and then you did that and made me messy and I loved every second of it and now I am happy and scared because you are looking at me like that. But it felt incredible and I am happy you care, and I think sex might feel better because I wish you would do it again and more.”

I sighed. What the hell was I supposed to do? I would have to warn Caelo that her dreams, if too powerful, had a very...active component. They could also have very unfortunate side effects. What if it had been Alison that had walked in? She was very odd, would she have allowed me to do that? Would I have been violating her? What if it had been Antonia or Baldwin? Okay, I know what would have happened if it were Baldwin. I would probably be on the ground fishing my testicles out of my teeth and regrowing them.

I didn’t know what to do about what just happened, but I had a pretty good idea of how to proceed. I actually was probably going to enjoy it. The idea had a certain appeal, and I would get a little bit of the irritation at Glinda out of my system. Of course, I was not stupid enough to think I wasn’t starting to care about her, a lot, but she still had a lot to pay for.

I sat down on my bed, still naked, and said, “Get a towel.”

She nodded, “Yes sir,” and trotted into the bathroom, coming back with a towel. I took it from her and started cleaning off her legs, and then my own lap a little. “Get over my lap,” I ordered her.

She started to try and sit down astride my lap, a big smile on her face, but I stopped her. She had very fine, sparse, almost blonde pubic hair, but that wasn’t what had my attention. “I said get over my lap. Not sit down on it. That means on your belly.”

She looked a little worried, but sort of knelled, putting her belly across my lap with her arms over the left side and her legs over the other. She wiggled and straightened out on the bed on either side, her arms to my left and her legs to my right, her plump and finely-curved bottom right over my lap, and sighed a little, turning her head towards me as I rubbed that butt. Yes, it felt even better than it looked, but I was not here to rub. “Tell me what you did wrong,” I said.

“I don’t know. You mean kidnapping you?”

I shook my head, tugging her a little so that her tummy was resting more fully on my lap. I was still a little hard, but I didn’t care that she could probably feel it digging into her side a little bit. “No, that punishment has already been decided. Tell me what you did wrong today.”

She looked even more worried but thoughtful. “I umm… decided to wear sexy clothes to the gym instead of real workout clothes?”

I nodded, “That’s one. The next thing?”

she sighed, “I argued with Baldwin about doing a real workout.”

“That’s two.”

“I umm… tried to make you jealous.”

“That’s four.”

“Four?” she asked, “That was only three.”

I nodded, “That’s five, for arguing with me, and six, for not asking permission to speak out of turn. Four was that absolutely pathetic joke of exercise you did, even knowing that I wanted a workout. Now, what was seven?”

She shook her head, “I don’t know. Did I do something wrong at dinner?”

“No, but I told you something. I gave you an order before we went to bed, didn’t I?

She nodded

“What was my order? What was your punishment?” I asked her, trickling down her spine with a fingertip to the smooth v where her butt cheeks met her lower back, and then delicately stroking that sensitive spot with my thumb as I felt her shiver. I still owed her for teasing me back in Chicago, and I intended to extract ten times the punishment. Weirdly, I would never have done that with any other girl, but with her it felt like the right thing to do. I resolved to trust my instincts in the future with regard to her, no matter how wrong those instincts seemed to be to my rational mind.

“I was not to have sex, not even with myself.” She replied, a little breathlessly. Her scan showed her to be mildly nervous, excited, and intensely aroused.

I smiled a little, and said, “And what did you do? Did you have sex?”

She shook her head, “No, you had sex with me! I…”

“eight.”

“But…”

“Nine. One more and we start jumping by five each.”

“Yes, I think I had an orgasm. So...yes.”

I nodded, “I told you no sex. I didn’t say no sex unless it was me, or no sex unless I grabbed you, or no official sex. The rule is no sex until I tell you that you can. That is ten. Did you do anything else wrong?”

She nodded, “Yes, I think I may have just had another tiny little orgasm.”

I had noticed. I guess it was a weird combination of her interest in being dominated plus the teasing I was doing with her bottom. “Good. That one gets taken off for your honesty. So it’s ten. Are you ready?” I asked, and then quickly swatted her bottom. I used a strong enough swat that it actually stung my hand, but she had meta durability. I had to gauge things carefully because I didn’t want to actually hurt her, just sting and humiliate her.

That was very, very strange. She just came again on my lap? From getting swatted?

“One,” I announced, watching her carefully. She had winced but didn’t complain. I checked, but she didn’t seem to have any damage, so the next one I swatted a bit harder. She jumped and chewed on the bedspread. It stung my hand even more but seemed to be about right, as I watched it turn a little pink. “Two.”

“This is not sex, so if you come it doesn’t count right now, but later I might punish you for not keeping things under control.”

“Yes, sir.” She whimpered a little, her large and surprisingly firm breasts pressed against the bedspread.

I quickly went through eight more swats and had to shake my hand at about 6. Yes, I was stronger and tougher than her, but meta durability was kind of a bitch. By the time I was finished, though, her ass had a nice ruby blush. I had been careful to move my swats around, so I didn’t beat one part too often.

I sighed. “Get up.” She quickly got to her feet, wincing.

“Do you feel appropriately punished for your transgressions?” I asked her.

She nodded, and I tried to pretend I didn’t notice her staring at what had been pressed against her belly while she had been lying down. “Yes sir.”

“And will you do that sort of thing again?” I asked.

“Yes sir.”

I raised an eyebrow, and she said, “May a girl who has been punished speak?”

I nodded, and she said, “I cannot promise I will not make mistakes, that would be stupid of me, and more importantly, I desperately crave whatever I can get sir, even if that means you turn my butt black and blue. I am not a genius, but I know what feels good, and I want you inside of me so bad it hurts. If being disobedient increases that chance, then I will willingly take it. You value honesty, so I am being honest… master.”

I sighed. “I do value your honesty. But you know that I have to stick to my word. No sex with anyone, not even me, unless I give you my permission.”

“May I have your permission, sir?” She asked brightly as if she just figured out how to outwit me at my own game using old quotes from one of my favorite movies.

I grinned, “No. I want you too, and I will be going to bed with a serious case of blue balls, but I need to be firm, and this is it.”

She nodded, and looked down pointedly, “Yes sir, you are very firm.” Before retiring to her place at the foot of my bed. I sighed.

“If I let you sleep on the bed, will you promise not to do anything too sexual?”

“No sir.”

Bitch. I was going to call Mariah tomorrow morning. And probably wake up in pain.

The next morning I noticed that she had tossed off the covers in the night. It hadn’t been too warm, but I had forgotten that Meta's durability included resistance to uncomfortable temperatures, and although she was asleep, the way she was laying, half-curled up with hard little nipples peeking out from her arms, made me almost desperate to grab her and force her back into bed. I wondered if she had curled up that way on purpose, to tease me if I woke up before her, which I usually did. I threw on some shorts, very quietly, and trod downstairs.

Baldwin was up already, he was an early riser. Ironically, so was Alison, who wasn’t. She was already feeding Toby baby food.

Baldwin looked at me, “So, did you have a fun night?” He asked.

I shook my head, “Not really. I would take some aspirin if they worked on me or I thought it would help.”

“Blue balls?” asked Baldwin. Alison glared at him through her glasses, “There’s a little boy here.”

I nodded, “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

He shrugged, “Surprising, what with that racket you two were making.”

I shrugged back, “Remember that question I was asking about subs?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I thought that was why we ate there yesterday.”

I shook my head, “No submissives.”

He nodded, “Yeah?”

I grimaced, “Glinda is definitely one of that type.”

He smiled, “Yeah, I knew what you were talking about when you asked, but I didn’t know if you were specifically talking about Lauren or Alison here. I am glad you decided to take her, though, you project that whole caring master-type vibe. That’s why I wouldn’t take you to a munch. You would literally walk out with half the girls.”

“Wait, what?” I asked. Alison looked at Baldwin in shock.

He chuckled, “Yeah, that type… let’s just say I am glad you forgave her. Holding her responsible for actions others forced onto her is like holding a scorpion responsible for stinging a frog. It’s self-destructive, but it’s her nature, and not many guys have that whole “I will kick your ass to protect you” thing going on, kind of the fatherhood vibe. I am glad you get her, and sorry about your delicate constitution, even if I think it’s kinda stupid to hold out.”

“I am not holding out, I just told her I had to speak to Aquantis first as I promised. I keep my word.”

He shrugged, “Aquantis is a free spirit. She loves to play the sub game, but in the end, she’s going to do what she wants to do, and calling her to ask permission is more likely to piss her off than reassure her.”

Alison was still looking at Baldwin, “What do you mean I am a submissive?”

I sighed at Baldwin, “Okay, oh great master of relationships, what do you suggest I do?”

He chuckled, “Hey, I am great at getting girls, just not so great at keeping them, mostly because my job is first and second, and my life and family a distant third. Aquantis is going to keep coming back to you for a LONG time, and you wear her ass out. Send her a text that says you miss her, want her body, and you are going to go fuck Victrix in the butt to get even with her for kidnapping you and because if you cannot have what you truly desire you are going to have to settle for second best.”

I looked at him, “Seriously?”

He nodded, “Yep. She gave you permission to mess around. The most important thing to her is that you are thinking about her and not taking her for granted. Just remind her occasionally that she’s important and she will be happy with you forever. I wish I’d had that advice, but I had to go on some long assignments, and if you don’t contact that type for more than a month, she will find someone that appreciates her.”

“What do you mean I am a submissive?” Alison repeated.

Baldwin finally looked at her, “You absolutely are. Not quite the same as our dear Victrix, but close.”

She shook her head, “I am not letting anyone dominate me.”

He chuckled, “Yet here you are, following the big dominant type guy around, even knowing he has a girlfriend and a pet and another few girls besides. It’s not a bad thing, I know you think it’s your gift, but you could keep track of him just as easily by calling him every couple of days. He has a teleporter now.”

“That doesn’t make me a submissive.”

Baldwin grinned at her, “Can you tell me, in all honesty, that if he told you firmly to go to his room right this minute, where he was going to scan you and then have sex with you right in front of Lauren and make her watch, that you would say no? That you would run out of the house until he calmed down? That you would fight him rather than let him kiss you?”

“No!” she said. “I mean, yes. I mean, I would tell him my gift says it’s not the time.”

“And if he promised not to scan you?”

She shook her head, “I cannot take that risk?”

Baldwin grinned, “Is that a question?” To which she shook her head. He grinned at me and said, “See? Not all girls are like that. Antonia is a rebel that would stomp out of here even if she wished she could do it, but Lauren would creep her out. Your friend Callie would look at you like you were crazy and get offended, even though she wished she could just say yes. Aquantis, well, she would probably be really disappointed if you didn’t play the dom game with both her and Lauren at the same time, making them eat each other out while you watched or something. With her, it’s all about the game.”

He shrugged, “Once she knew you were serious about being her master or boss or whatever, Alison would be all over you. But Lauren is more of a slave type. If she thinks you aren’t paying her enough attention, she will start shit just to get a rise out of you.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I sort of noticed that.”

He laughed, “Alison here is more of a pet type. To be honest, I wish I had one just like her that wasn’t meta. You have to let her know occasionally that you love her and protect and cherish her, and she will do literally anything for you as long as you act like you are in charge. Even if you are separated for a while, she will be loyal to a fault as long as she isn’t betrayed.”

Alison was blushing hard.

“So any guy could just pick her up and she would be loyal forever as long as he treated her right?”

He shook his head, “Naww. You gotta have the right attitude, or at least be able to fake it well enough to fool her.”

“And what is the right attitude?” I asked.

He smiled, “Now that is the right question. Tell me, you are still kind of pissed at Callie, because even though three years have gone by, she found a boyfriend, right?”

I shrugged, “Maybe. Just a little.”

He nodded, “Right. Now, if you found out the guy did the same thing with her house and her bank account that Paul did to you, what would you do? Would you comfort her and be glad that he was out of the picture?”

I shook my head, “No, I would track him down and break both of his kneecaps and at least one arm.”

“What if you knew doing that would alienate her and she’d never talk to you again?”

“I’d break both of his arms,” I stated flatly.

“That’s it exactly! That is the attitude. You never slept with her, you never dated her, she even kicked your ass a bunch of times, but she was your friend, she was YOURS. Most guys cannot pull that off. Even if they have the right attitude, they cannot physically back up what they want to do. You can. It’s like catnip to a subby girl. Hell, it’s kinda like catnip to a lot of dommy girls too. You’d be amazed at how common the attitude of ‘If he cannot kick my ass, he’s not worth my time’ a lot of the stronger, more aggressive girls are. They won’t be particularly loyal if you find one, but they can be a lot of fun.”

I sighed. Women were so complicated.

“Hey Baldwin, I need to head out today to do something socially irresponsible that you need plausible deniability for,” I said, typing out a text to Aquantis. I knew she cared, but this might be the first of a long line of fights. “I need to take Lauren with me, but I should be back tonight. Could you take care of things here while I am gone? You are welcome to head to the gym, Jim will let you roll as you want, but someone needs to take care of Toby because we cannot have him with us where I am going. Too dangerous.”

Baldwin nodded, “Yeah, I need to get some new clothes, I could take Toby and Alison with me if she will help me keep an eye on the kid?” He asked her.

Alison nodded, “Alright, but I need clothes too. We could have lunch. I don’t think anything is likely to happen today out of the ordinary in our vicinity.” She looked at me, and she went into her ‘calculating’ pose. “But if you have sex with Caelo today, there is a 93% probability that Kjootoo will talk you into marrying her before you leave. There’s only an 8% chance you will see Akiko but if you do, it approaches parity that you will have sex with both her and Lauren, but not at the same time, before the end of the day. If you do…” She shook her head.

“What?” I asked.

“I just detected a new possibility based on a low-probability event that occurred yesterday. I don’t know if I should tell you this, since it is a lot like when I told you about Speedburn and I don’t want to upset you, but it increases our chances of survival and victory to nearly 61%”

I sighed. “Alright. What do I have to do? Does it involve inviting someone into my bed again? I am getting a little tired of this. Why can’t you say “Walk down this street at a certain time and double your chances of winning?”

She shook her head, “Because it takes conscious efforts on your part. Combat odds will have little value until closer to the time of the event, and even then, most of the better odds involve the participation of Hyde, in which case, his chances of following tactical advice are close to nonexistent. I cannot calculate odds involving your potions, however, except for their basic effects, such as giving members of your team healing potions. That is already added in.”

“The only things that add decent odds right now are alliances and contacts. Your facility for making loyal allies is very very low unless you add your sexual abilities into the calculation.”

“So you are saying what, I am shitty at making friends if I don’t fuck them first?”

She looked at Toby and said, “Shh. But yes. You are capable of making long-term friends with those who are less formidable than yourself, but apparently, you are utterly incompetent at making powerful allies without sex. Every attempt I have seen ends in greater than a 90% chance of failure, with a few rare exceptions. One of those exceptions was Kjootoo, who raised our survival chances to 33% if you handle him correctly, but that handling requires a careful set of circumstances I am loath to interfere with.” She shook her head, looking a little tired. “So yes. It involves enticing someone to your bed. The odds are low, but the rewards are huge.”

I sighed, nodding, “Well, tell me who it is. Please don’t say Karen Anchorage.”

She shook her head, “If you got her into bed, the odds would drop to less than 3%. Primarily because you do not understand her powers, although the chances of you having a very rewarding, if very short, life are quite high. She is not what you think she is.”

“So what is she?” I asked.

She shook her head, “Beats me. I just know she’s not what you think she is.”

I nodded, “So are you going to beat around the bush anymore or tell me who this miraculous chance-doubler is?”

She scratched her head, “Sif.”

Erf. Ack. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy plumbing her depths with my tongue, but the lady was beyond intimidating.

“I take it that I would have to defeat her in single combat? She mentioned that.” I said.

She shook her head, “Not at all. If you defeat her in single combat with Hyde, the chances of her alliance drop to zero. She respects Hyde but has no interest in him. Your chances of defeating her without Hyde, however, are close to seven percent. That is not very good odds. There are other ways with a very high likelihood of successfully gaining her attention, but I cannot determine them because of some sort of interference, perhaps from her odd category of super. The only one I am assured of is of gaining another ally and using her to defeat Sif in single combat, but beyond that I cannot guess, the odds get too weird.”

“What if you helped to influence the odds?” I asked her.

She shook her head, “My presence would encourage the belief that I was already your ally, and therefore your bedmate, and would drop your chances significantly. I think, although I am not sure, that while she wouldn’t particularly care about you having other lovers, she would find the actual presence of others… insulting.”

I nodded, I would have to give this some thought.

I sent word in advance that we would be showing up to Tino. Caelo didn’t like to use cellphones or paper any more than she did speaking, which I guess I could work with, if not really understand.

I wish I could fix it, but it was not a chemical imbalance or handicap, she just couldn’t bring herself to try and communicate outside of dreams. It was purely psychological, and I was not a shrink or priest, I had no idea where to even start. Sure, like most guys I was convinced that great sex would fix anything, but I wasn’t stupid, my wand wasn’t magic.

Caelo met us when we stepped out of Vectress’ portal. She was wearing an African-themed banded top and skirt, which looked quite nice on her, and left her arms and belly bare, which was quite nice for me. When I wrapped her in a hug I eased my control back into a full analysis.

Calixte Lovelie Dupree (Caelo)

Metahuman 44% class C(S)

Aspects: body, mind, soul

Power: 198

Conditions: 60 days until menses

Projected lifespan: ???. Current age: 18

healthy, pleased, apologetic at running out of energy when she did. Hopeful to make it real.

Powers: Dreamwalking, Dreamspeaking, Spirit Command

no current abnormal infections, psychologically blocked communication outside of dreamspeaking

I smiled at her, “I hope so too.” I said, and whispered, “I don’t know how much we can do with the dreams. Last time I was walking around my bedroom and actually doing what I did in the dream.” I scaled back to just reading her states again.

She hopes you did not hurt yourself

I shook my head, “No, but there was someone there who got… basically the benefit of what you were doing, other than me.”

She embarassingly admits she wishes she could have seen that, and hopes it was someone you care about, like Aquantis. She finds the idea of watching you do what you were doing with her to someone else oddly exciting.

I glanced at Lauren, who had accompanied me through her portal. She was back in a costume, although this one looked vastly more professional, a sort of long-sleeved leotard, black with purple waves and sparkles at the outer edges turning to full purple along with her gloves and boots. She was back to wearing fishnets, and her domino mask was a bit fuller, with sharp points under her eyes.

When I had seen the outfit, I had wondered aloud if it was intended for fighting crime or for sex? Then again, a lot of superpower outfits were like that. They were expensive, made out of some high-impact fabric that was thicker and sturdier than it looked, and there was a metahuman named Barnabas that produced the best costumes, presumably with his abilities. Vectress’ outfit was not a Barnabas creation, but those could cost a million each easily.

I looked back at Caelo and waggled my eyebrows suggestively. She stifled a giggle.

She thought you hated Vectress, but is pleased that you have had your vengeance on her friend and that Vectress is still breathing. She wonders if Vectress is filling in for Aquantis or replacing her?

I shook my head, “Neither, right now. She’s going to be a slave for a while to pay off what she owes me. I set the price at twice what your father paid her, which should take her approximately forever to pay off. I am taking care of her and her son, and that’s one of the reasons I am here… Sending her to school and finishing out my doctorate is going to be a lot more expensive than I had assumed, so I need to see about cutting another deal with Kjootoo.”

She understands, and appreciates your mercy, but she does not see a collar, not even a symbolic collar. She would like to point out that while her father would certainly give him money if asked, and even accept a trade for rapture, the powder is not selling as well as expected, due to the DMA’s crackdown on meta-produced drugs. Her father has certainly made a profit already, but still has stock he is having trouble moving.

“Those motherfuckers. Cracking down on Rapture is a direct attempt to get to me. I hate to do it, but I might wind up having to go to a multinational anyway. I am not going to get in debt to your father.”

She might have a short-term alternative. Her friend Maximum works for her father as a way to obtain certain substances for her clan. She believes if you speak to her father, he would be willing to act as agent for contacting the clan about a solution to one of their problems.

I nodded to her and gave her a light kiss. “Akiko is my friend too, and if I can help her with a problem, I am on it. Making the money I need in the process might be a nice bonus, but if she needs our help, I am not going to insist.

With a final squeeze, I let Caelo go, and went to find her father. He was in the dining area, scribbling at what looked like an old-fashioned ledger.

“Hi pop,” I said, approaching him. He looked up at me and grinned, “Oh, of course. Have you decided to marry our lovely Calixte then?”

I shook my head, “What I decide doesn’t matter. It’s what she prefers that counts, not that I would have a problem.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Young women are so poor at making such choices. You may give her her time, but she is very beautiful and talented despite her handicap. Giving her freedom may endear you to her, but it may also mean she runs off with the first man that tickles her fancy. I won’t object to giving her time to feel like she has a choice, but I would hate to give her away to the first man that she sees naked.”

It was a little late for that. “She said that you were having trouble moving some of the merchandise, even though you have already more than broken even. I was hoping to make a deal to prop up your supply, since I tended to move through money faster than I had expected, but not if you can’t sell it, we might be able to come up with an alternative.”

He nodded, “Yes, with the DMA adding rapture to the restricted list, despite its lack of side effects, it’s been tougher to move. Not impossible, of course, but profits are slower than expected, if much higher. Ironically, knowing it’s illegal now has almost doubled the value of offers, but with its incredible profit margin, it’s also a giant target for the DEA and other entities. At twenty grand a dose, the chances of betrayal grow inevitable, and I’ve already had to make an example.”

He chuckled, “I am beginning to understand why the cartels that move high-profit, high-risk merchandise are so brutal. I don’t like playing that game, it damages my karma. However, if you have something similar in mind, something else cheap and offering a wonderful and consequence-free experience we could exploit for a while, I am all ears.”

I shook my head, “I could probably figure something out, given time and a lot of ingredients, but I need to go back to school, and I am not willing to go deeply into debt once more. I barely got out of that trap once, I am not putting my foot back in it.”

He smiled a little, “Clever. I would happily loan or even give you the money, considering the debts I owe you. That was surprisingly sharp to come to me for it, although a bit more ruthless than I would have given you credit for. You will indeed make a fine match for Caelo.”

I shook my head. “I hate to have to burst your bubble, but the whole healing thing wasn’t planned. The fact that I handed you a potion that you tucked into just the right place, that he hit you exactly the right way to burst the bottle and spread it over the wound that killed you, as your loa promised, and then restarted your heart, It was all just the most ridiculously unlikely luck you could ever…” I stopped.

Windfall.