Mistress panted beneath me on her throne. I was similarly exhausted, draped across her body limply. Mistress had used me thoroughly, releasing all of her pent-up frustration. It had been absolutely divine. 

Mistress patted my butt. "Come on. It's almost time for dinner," she said tiredly.

And now there was the problem of actually getting up. My lower body was still shaking from latent pleasure, making it impossible to properly control my legs. When I tried to get up, all I achieved was sliding a little bit down Mistress's body. 

Mistress noticed my predicament. "I suppose I did quite a number on you," she contemplated. "Do I need to carry you?" She asked in a cutesy voice and booped my nose. 

Meekly, I nodded. "Y-yes, please." 

"If you insist!" 

Mistress grabbed me and stood up suddenly. I yelped as the sudden movement disoriented me, made worse by my hair flying in my face. A puff of air cleared my vision, providing an unobstructed view of Mistress's smirking face. 

She carried me bridal-style out of the room, abandoning the dress she had discarded at some point in the last couple of hours. Slaves got an eyeful of our naked bodies as Mistress calmly walked past. Surprisingly, I didn't mind as much. I still felt a little embarrassed, but the vulnerability was gone in Mistress's warm arms. 

I blushed and laid my head against Mistress's soft pillows. I closed my eyes, blocking out the rest of the world. It was just me and Mistress. She was so warm, so comforting, so... safe. Was she really so bad? All she had done was introduce me to a world of pleasure. It had hurt too much at first, but now I could appreciate the pain. I was surrounded by beauties and could have sex with any of them whenever I wanted, not to mention my new friends! I hadn't had many close friends in my past life... I think. If I didn't remember them, they couldn't have been too close, right? Back then, everything was a struggle. Here, I could just let myself go.

No. I had been having too many thoughts like that recently. I needed to keep my mind focused. To get back to Earth. I had a family. They loved me, and I loved them. I couldn't forget them. My little brother hadn't even made it to high school yet. 

For a frightening second, I drew a blank on my brother's name. But all it took was a little bit of digging through my memories to drag out the name 'Tommy'. I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't remember my own name. I had come to terms with that. But I wasn't about to let my life be erased.

I needed to get out of here, and soon. 

Mistress opened the pink door leading into my room and set me on the bead. 

"Get dressed and be at the dining hall. The bell will ring soon, alright?"

"Yes, Mistress."

After a quick peck on my forehead, Mistress sauntered out of my room. 

I tested my legs. They were cooperating more than before but still felt a little weak. Oh well. Seeing a girl walking around sore was common here. 

Supporting myself on my bedposts, I surveyed my clothing options. After Mistress being gone for so long, I figured I should wear something she would really like. She was always easier to deal with in a good mood.

In the end, I settled on a flowery white and red blouse with a golden miniskirt. The blouse avoided my collarbone, held up only by a couple of ties, and the miniskirt had a small slit to provide further glimpses of the pale skin beneath. 

I slid my feet into a pair of white slippers - I didn't trust myself with heels right now - and set off for dinner. 

As I made my way to the dining hall, my thoughts drifted to my escape plan. Or rather, my lack of one. I had absolutely nothing. Albus hadn't given me anything useful, and Hanina seemed to think there was no way out. Think, Cali, think! So far, the only entrance and exit was through the main hall. There were supposedly plenty of secret tunnels and passageways, but did any of them lead outside? If so, had Mistress already discovered it? And then there was the problem of when to get out. There was never a time when Mistress and all of her wives were asleep, and Amaya constantly just roamed the halls looking to pick on people. 

My shoulders sagged with each passing second. No matter what I thought of, there was something else to shoot it down. 

"You look sadder than normal."

I looked up, startled out of my downward spiral. Ishka stood nearby, arms crossed and staring at me. 

Since first truly meeting each other, our relationship had improved a little. I wouldn't go so far as to say she was a friend, but she was definitely friendlier than before. Still, it felt like there was a wall between us that wouldn't come down, no matter how hard I tried. Ishka didn't trust me, I knew that much. I didn't blame her. But I felt like there was something else she didn't like. 

"Trouble in paradise?" Ishka asked sarcastically. 

"What paradise?" 

The blue-haired girl chuckled. "Oh please. You know you and Penny have it better than the rest of us."

That was another thing. She seemed to dislike Penny even more than me. Almost everyone did, for some reason. I had tried to do some digging, but no one would talk about it. Which meant I was only, like, 60% sure it had something to do with Amaya. 

Ishka in particular, though, seemed a bit hypocritical about it. She acted like part of the reason she didn't like us was because of how well we had it compared to the rest of the slaves even though she was perfectly fine with Hanina, who was arguably better off than either me or Penny.

Oh well. Nothing I could do about it. I could, however, ask her a few questions. I cast a furtive glance around. Upon finding a quiet and out-of-the-way nook, I gestured toward it. Ishka checked out where I was pointing and furrowed her eyebrows. I gave her my best pleading look. She sighed and followed me into the secluded corner.

"Alright, what do you want?" 

"Do you know any way to get out?" 

Ishka recoiled. She looked around,  startled, to make sure no one was listening in. 

"Why are you talking about this in public?!" Ishka whisper-shouted once she decided the coast was clear.

"Why do you think I went to this out-of-the-way corner? No one can hear us," I replied, a little annoyed. How dumb did she think I was?

"And what if someone walks up in the middle of us talking?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"We're pretty out of the way. I doubt anyone would just stumble across us."

"Not by accident, no," Ishka muttered. She paused and took a sigh.

"We can try to talk after dinner." After a beat, she said, "And somewhere more secure."

With that, Ishka walked off to finish whatever slave duties she had. 

It wasn't long before I found myself back at the entrance to the dining hall. Once again, I found myself staring at the art on the doors. It really was beautiful. The flowers looked so real they made the wood seem soft, and I could almost believe the two women in the center were alive. They looked so comfortable and at ease with each other. Even though their eyes were closed, the artist still clearly conveyed the love they held for each other. It almost broke my heart every time I had to open the doors and split the two apart.

I walked to the head table, where the only other occupants were Mistress and Basa.

"Ah, Cali! Great to see you join us so soon!" Mistress patted her lap, on which I dutifully sat. As I leaned back, Mistress ran her claws through my hair. 

"How have you been Cali?" Basa asked warmly. 

I gave her a small smile. "I'm fine,  but things have been better," I said. I wasn't even lying. The way Mistress was massaging me was enough to make me content for now.

Mistress laughed at my answer. "When does the past not seem better?" 

"Truer words have never been spoken," Basa replied wistfully. She looked mournfully at Hanina's chair beside her. 

"She'll come around, Basa. The girl's just in her rebellious phase," Mistress soothed.

"I can only hope. Does she really not see that I did what I had to to save us? If only she would make the most of her situation, she could actually be happy!" Basa cradled her head in her hands. Mistress removed her hand from my head to rub the grieving mother's shoulder. 

I examined the surprisingly tender scene. In a way, I got where Hanina's mom was coming from. A good parent would do anything to save their kids. But making a deal with the devil? That was dangerous and could turn out even worse than what you were being saved from. 

Basa sighed and picked her head up. "I'm ashamed for you to see me like this, Cali. Hanina just holds a special place in my heart. I'm sure you understand."

I felt Mistress perk up. "What if my dear slave talked to Hanina? I'm sure she could find a way to convince her to give you a chance."

Basa looked at me with eyes full of hope. "Could you? I would be so grateful if you could," she pleaded. 

I swallowed the large ball in my throat. "I-I guess I could try," I said, uncertain.

"Thank you. If you're successful, I might even reward you," Basa said as she leaned forward. The tops of her large breasts stared at me from her black bikini top. 

I nodded, throat dry. 

"Aren't you such a sweetie?" Basa laughed, "I wish I could see you more often. It's a shame how much of my time I have to spend training the new slaves." 

Mistress patted her shoulder. "Well, now that I'm back, we'll see if I can lighten that load. Maybe Cali could even watch us breaking them in! I'm sure she'd like that." 

I considered it. Watching the new slaves' training didn't exactly sound exciting. Still, I couldn't but be intrigued by what they did to the new girls. 

I was so engaged in our conversation that I didn't even notice the dining hall had quickly filled up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amaya strutting in, Penny in tow. That left only Hanina and Cinila unaccounted for. 

The vampire was talking passionately to Penny, though the orange-haired girl didn't seem as enthused about it. Amaya was laughing at some joke she made as she plopped down at her seat at the head table. I had no idea what she was talking about, but clearly Mistress did. 

"Amaya, please keep such topics to areas outside of the dining hall. Some of us would like to keep our appetite."

"Come on, it's not my fault you guys have weak stomachs!" Amaya groaned. On a dime, though, her demeanor shifted as she eagerly pushed her hair back to reveal gold earrings with yellow tassels. Wait, those were mine!

"Hey, how do these earrings look on me?" Amaya asked innocently.

Mistress sighed. "Let's just say gold definitely isn't your color."

Suddenly, Cinila burst out of the door leading to the kitchen. She hurried over to the table, kissing the other wives on her way. 

"I am pleased to say that all of the kitchen staff are properly doing their duties," Cinila said with a smile. "We will soon be served."

Not a minute after she said that, slaves streamed out of the kitchen bearing plates. The head table was served first, obviously. It was only when I noticed one slave hesitating at the end of the table that I realized Hanina still hadn't shown up.