Chapter 44: Chloe's Declaration

"Well, Ral, you have enticed two of my employ and my cat with your charms," Vikkor said. "They seem to want to be yours without so much effort on your part."

I didn't say anything. If I interrupted her and this was the end of our meeting, the sooner she was finished with her short speech, the sooner everyone could go home. Considering the three women I had charmed, it was probably a good idea.

"There is only one thing I still want you to do."

Damn. "What?" I didn't mean to sound so irritated, but I was. The games got old very fast and Vikkor was drawing it out, trying to find out something I probably couldn't explain.

"I want to see you make one of my subjects yours." Her smile was shrewd.

"You're challenging me to take one of your subjects?" It sounded almost ludicrous.

Vikkor nodded.

"How?"

"Without the program, of course. Use your granted abilities to add one of my subjects to your growing harem."

Vikkor was not a lover of men. She knew what the process of adding someone to my "harem" would entail, and if she didn't maybe she wasn't as smart as she pretended to be. Whatever the case, I didn't think she wanted to see me do one of her women on her expensive looking mural rug. She was still playing the game and I was getting really close to just screaming.

"Why is this so important to you? I'm not interested in taking anyone's subjects."

With a wave of her hand she responded, "Call it my curiosity." That smile of hers never wavered. Either she didn't believe it was possible or she expected me to just turn her down. I would hate to disappoint her.

"Is this another game? I make one of your subjects mine and then you try to figure out how I did it so you can reverse the process? Because if it's your idea of tennis, then game over. I forfeit. I will not play with people like that. These women, both mine and yours are not toys to be tossed around and mistreated. They have feelings, they have dreams, and they have lives beyond what we think they should."

The smile on Vikkor's face faded a touch. I don't think she expected me to turn her down so easily. "My subjects have lives. They have dreams and feelings. They have what their Mistress gives them. I give their lives purpose. I give them dreams to accomplish, and I help them discover the feelings they've hidden. I do not take my subjects lightly. Which is why I know you cannot take them. You may try, but they will remain mine. The challenge I offer is not to only make my subject yours in body, as you have done with your women, but in their lives, their dreams, and their emotions. I do not believe you are capable of fulfilling those aspects at all. Yes you fill your women with lust and maybe dreams of you in their beds, but can you claim that any of your women actually believe you gave them purpose, something to accomplish, or fulfillment in their emotional well-being?"

Crap. I was in trouble. Dreams? Purpose in life? Emotional fulfillment? No, no, and no. All I knew was that all of my girls were drawn to me via the marks of binding. I could not say that any of them qualified for any of those stipulations. "If you're trying to say that I'm not perfect, then you're right. I'm not." I looked among my girls, Mandy included and over to Chloe. "I do inspire lust, and as fun as that is, it isn't the same as what you've described." That got looks that I couldn't immediately read. Renée's touch told me she was happy with what we had. Erin was the same. It was good to know, but Vikkor was looking for a more profound influence, and there was no way any of them could say they were truly moved by me or my ... powers. Vikkor had called on me to find out who I was, why I was there, and to test my abilities with the program. Well, that last challenge was not even going to be met. "What I am not going to claim is that I am their true master, because I'm not. I told you that when we first arrived and you dismissed it with a laugh. The program has given me purpose, it has given me improvements to the dreams I had and it has brought emotional fulfillment to me, but I cannot say that they," I held my hands out to my sides, "have benefited from my presence in their lives."

Vikkor's winning smile I expected. Renée, Erin and the rest of mine standing and protesting, I did not.

"Who are you to say you give anyone's life purpose? How do you know their lives didn't have purpose already before you imposed your own?" Erin demanded.

"We don't find emotional fulfillment in just Ral. He has helped us find that in ourselves and each other." Renée proclaimed.

"Everyone has dreams. Our own purpose is built on and the design of those dreams. We don't need someone to inspire those dreams, because we will find our own." Jeri stated.

Everyone on my side of the room, except for Mandy, continued to add their own comments, agreed with ones already aired, or questioned how Vikkor could possibly be so wrong as to suggest anyone else couldn't help someone find any of those aspects. It was really touching. My body swelled with the caring support I received from all of my women, my girls, my ladies, my lovers, my partners, and my friends.

If nothing else, I felt better about our situation, and worse. If they felt so strongly about how much I made their lives better or at least improved their lives even in the most insignificant way, then maybe my curse wasn't a curse like those of fiction. Is it a bad thing when the changes in your life help others lives as well? I couldn't see how.