by Dark, Raven
“Oh, there is no mistaking one of them. He moves like he was born with a sword in his hand. And that trained calm. A Dreg flashbang could go off at his feet and he wouldn’t flinch. I’ve seen a Yantu warrior, years ago.”
I laughed before I could stop myself.
“What?” Her eyes sparkled.
“Nothing. It’s just amusing, hearing you say flashbang so naturally.”
Flashbangs were a distinctly biker weapon, not something Violets encountered, raised in high society as they were. My mother talked of MC life with a strange mixture of long-time familiarity and wonder, as though she would always feel like she had one foot still in the world in which she was raised, yet MC words rolled off her tongue easily. Would I ever fit in so well with the Legion?
She grinned and shook her head, putting her arms around me, linking her hands on my arm. Resting her cheek on the top of my head. I snuggled close.
“My daughter. Having you here is like a dream come true. I never want to let you go.”
I nuzzled the soft front of her frock with my cheek, feeling the same.
She let out a long, sad sigh. “But there is something we need to discuss, isn’t there?”
I closed my eyes. Julian.
“It can wait a few minutes more,” I said. “I don’t want to ruin this moment.”
Light of the Maker, I felt like a child again.
She nodded. I thought I felt her tears wet my hair. I sniffed, crying with joy, relief, and sadness. Sadness that we’d been separated for so long. Sadness that Dax couldn’t be here to share in our joy. Sadness at the horror of what had happened to him.
We sat there for a long time just soaking up the moment, letting ourselves feel, letting ourselves enjoy what we suddenly had. It was as if, until now, we’d been asleep, and we’d just now awakened.
But unfortunately, the world and the one thing I wished I never had to think about again had to take precedence. Julian once more had to intrude on my world.
I wasn’t sure if my mother was the first to draw back or if it was me. I sat up but took her hands in mine, anything to keep this connection with her.
I cleared my throat and chose the words carefully. “Sheriff told me Mayhem said in his letter that you’d been experiencing the same things as me.”
“The trances. The nightmares.”
I nodded. “Mayhem also told Sheriff that you said things. In another person’s voice.”
“‘Revolution is coming’.” Her voice was dark with anger. Anger with Julian. “You said the same words?”
“And some other things. All in a man’s voice.”
“A man who calls himself Julian.”
“Yes. Mother, who is this person?”
She pushed to her feet and rubbed her forehead with her long, lacquered nails, then turned away from me, her back tight. “Did he make you hurt anyone?”
“No. But he…wait.” I was on my feet. “Mother, did he make you hurt someone?”
Fear of her answer made my spine tingle. If Julian was capable of taking command of our bodies as he had done with our minds, then that meant those I loved were in far more danger than I’d feared. Such a thing I could not accept.
Still keeping her back to me, she said nothing at first but, finally, she turned around. Her features, like porcelain, looked hard enough to cut glass. “Setora, what else did Julian make you say?”
“Wait, no, Mother. Answer me, please. Did he make you harm anyone?” My voice trembled.
She looked at the ceiling. “Everyone is fine now. But Mayhem said I attacked him while Julian was…inside.”
I felt my face pale. “Attacked him how?”
“I…I shoved him.”
She wouldn’t look at me.
“That wasn’t all, was it, Mother?”
When she let out a breath, it shook. “No. I…Julian…said I had to leave. To go to him. When I started to walk out of the bedroom, Mayhem tried to stop me. I pushed him away, hard enough that he slammed into the wall, like he weighed nothing. He flew across the room. It knocked him out.”
I stared. My heart thudded in my ears. “That sounds like the same thing that happened to me. Sheriff tried to touch me, and I nearly broke his wrist.”
Her eyes widened. “General Sheriff is lucky you didn’t kill him. I have a feeling if Stitch hadn’t stopped me when he did, I might have killed Mayhem.” She shuddered with obvious horror.
How long would it be before Julian made me hurt someone? My Four? Or Cherry?
“Wait, Mother, how did they stop you from leaving? Or from doing worse to Mayhem?”
“Stitch shot me with a tranquilizer gun. He’s been keeping me sedated with a drug—Anapine, I think he called it. It’s supposed to keep the dreams away, and he thinks it will keep Julian from connecting with me.”
“If it’s the same drug Doc has been using on me, it won’t work. Not all the time, at least. Julian didn’t take over again, but he showed up in a dream after Doc drugged me up.”
“So you’ve had the dreams, too? Not just nightmares?”
“Yes. They’re so vivid. So real.”
“Yes, mine are the same.” My mother looked away. “The smells, the sounds; everything seemed too real. The dreams are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
“Mother, was there someone in your dreams? Someone who shouldn’t have been there?”
She swallowed, sitting down slowly, her gaze on me intense. “There was a man, yes.”
I sat beside her, my hands shaking in my lap. “What did he look like?” I needed to know I wasn’t the only one who’d seen Julian as a male Violet.
She paled, her eyes too wide. I could see her trying to absorb the implications—that she and I hadn’t just been having nightmares, but that we’d had dreams of the same man, one we’d never met.
“Did you see his face? His hair?” I pressed when she didn’t answer.
“Not at first, no. His face…well, he didn’t have one.”
“He didn’t for me, either.”
Her brow scrunched up, as if she were trying to see the dream in her mind. “He hid his face from me. But then something happened to him in the last dream I had. His disguise, that faceless visage he wore, slipped. For a moment I saw what he looked like.”
“A male Violet.”
She nodded, shuddering. I took her hand, squeezing it.
“It seems ridiculous, but if you saw it too, then he must be.” She squeezed my hand in return. “Especially since I get the feeling he didn’t mean for me to see his face when I did.”
“What makes you think he didn’t want you to see him?”
“It’s hard to explain. The mask he wore, that faceless shape, it…flickered, as if his ability to hide himself had faltered for a moment. He got angry, and then he vanished. Then I woke up.”
I leaned back into the couch, my mind spinning. It simultaneously relieved and alarmed me that we were having such similar experiences. It made my skin crawl.
“Well,” I said, “if he didn’t mean to let you see his face, he definitely meant for me to see it.” When she looked at me, I added, “He…made me see it. He wanted me to know what he was, but only after Sheriff had already told me.”
“You’re saying…he knew that you knew. He was just proving it.”
I nodded.
“So, he wanted you to see it but no one else. Why?”
“I don’t know.” I turned on the couch to face her. “Did he make you say anything else? Any strange words?”
“Mayhem told me I said…what was it? ‘I call to those who bear the Mark. An army I shall make from them’.”
“An army? An army from who?”
She shook her head. She didn’t know.
“And what Mark?” I rubbed my forehead in frustration.
“I don’t…oh Maker.” She leaped to her feet, turning away from me, her head dropping back.
“What is it?” I stood, grabbing her arm.
She whirled around. �
�Setora, I think I know what he means.”
“Which is what?”
She squeezed my arms. “First things first, Setora. You said he made you say words you didn’t know the meaning of. What were they?”
“I…what?” I asked, confused by her urgency.
“The words. What were they?”
“Um, Cama Don. And another one, Kren. Do you know what they mean?”
Her finely-shaped brows shot up. “You’re sure that’s what he said? Cama Don?”
“Yes. And he said I was his Cama Di. What does that mean?”
Her brows went up into her hairline, and she waved over to the door. Eagle Eye was at our side in an instant.
“You all right, D?”
“Eagle Eye, I need to talk to Master right away, please. And Setora’s masters as well.”
Eagle Eye nodded and headed for the doors.
“Mother? What’s going on?”
She didn’t answer, instead asked me to wait until Mayhem had returned.
Within a few minutes, Mayhem and my Four were seated on the couches with us again, Doc and Blade close by, Doc with the tranquilizer gun still in his grip. Eagle Eye stood at Mayhem’s right shoulder, Stitch at his left.
Mayhem gave us all a nod as soon as we were settled.
Looking tired, Sheriff wrapped his arm around me. “What’s going on, Mayhem?”
“D says she has something to tell us.” He sat back, letting my mother take the floor.
“Sirs, Setora and I were discussing Julian. That he made her say some strange words. Words she didn’t know?”
“Yes, we all heard them,” Sheriff said. “She—he—called me Cama Don. One of the men in my crew says it’s an old word no one uses anymore. It means leader or something.” He slid his arm from me and leaned forward on the couch. “He made Setora say two other words we’ve never heard before. He said, ‘She is my Cama Di.’ And the word Kren. Do you know what they mean?”
My mother sighed. “Well, I’ve never heard the word Kren before. I don’t know that one. But I do know one of the others.”
When everyone, including me, waited for her to go on, she paused, seeming to choose her words carefully. “Setora, do you remember the stories I used to tell you about the Ladies of Shana Ra?”
“Not really. Oh, you mean those bedtime stories you used to tell me? Of course. I used to have dreams about those women. I just didn’t remember what they were called.”
“I used to tell those stories to her, to get her to calm down after a nightmare,” she told the men.
“Who are these Ladies?” Hawk asked beside me.
“Oh, they were from these fanciful tales about a group of women who lived away from the World of Man. Who shunned Man’s laws and lived free. Peaceful priestesses in a temple hidden from the rest of the world.”
Steel snorted into his hand.
“Why are you bringing up those stories now, Mother?” I asked.
“Because.” She fixed me with a solemn stare. “I know you all came here for information about what’s going on with the Violets. Now that we’ve talked, most of what I know you’re already aware of. But there is one thing. Now I know for sure that the Temple of the Ladies of Shana Ra is the best place to go for answers.”
I swallowed. “Mother, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
She nodded. “Yes. The stories about those women weren’t just bedtime stories. They were real. Your Great-Aunt Rea, the woman who raised me, grew up with them as a child.”
I gaped at her, but she wasn’t done.
“Aside from us looking for these women for answers, what you said about Julian, what he calls you… According to Aunt Rea, the Head Priestess, Alra, was known as a Cama Di.”
Again, if the situation weren’t so critical, I would have laughed at what she was suggesting. A group of women who remained hidden from men, from men who would have enslaved them as soon as they saw them, and would have probably killed them for their defiance of the law. A group of women who may have answers and know who this Julian person was. The very idea seemed ridiculous, and yet my brain only latched onto the last part of what she’d said.
“This Alra was called a Cama Di? What does it mean?”
My mother heaved a breath. Horror shuddered through her while anger made her hands clench.
“If Julian called you his Cama Di, then I know what he wants. He wants you. As his mate. Setora, the word Cama Di…it means queen.”
“A woman’s submission or surrender comes not from a weakness of the soul, but from strength of the heart.”
-Alra Sin Sahra,
High Priestess and Cama Di of the Ladies of Shana Ra
Chapter 2
Plans and Plots
Julian wanted Setora as his mate.
He wanted my Petal—our woman—as his.
I had laughed at the mention of these women who’d shunned men, the Ladies of Shanna Na, or whatever Setora’s mother had called them, but in less than ten seconds, the conversation had officially become about as un-funny as it could’ve gotten.
As soon as she’d said the word mate, my fist clenched, protective and possessive anger setting my blood on fire. She’d barely finished speaking when there was a loud thump and a crack.
“Steel.” Sheriff’s quiet voice made me look down.
I’d slammed the table with my fist, sending a crack skittering across the wooden top. Glasses that had been on the table were now scattered on the floor.
“Shit.” I looked at D and Setora, both women watching me, startled. Mayhem had taken D’s hand. “Sorry, Petal,” I muttered. “Sheriff, can I kill this piece of shit now? Like right the fuck now?”
“Steel’s right,” Pretty Boy said from my other side. PB pulled a trembling Setora onto his lap, holding her close and whispering in her ear between talking to Sheriff, smoothing Setora’s hair back. “It’s all right, Princess. We’re not gonna let him near you. Sheriff, this Julian needs to have his balls cut off now.”
“Both of you cool your shit.” But Sheriff’s voice brimmed with the kind of anger that told me he was seconds from hunting Julian down and cutting off a lot more than his balls. He grabbed Setora’s hand, and I wondered if he wasn’t just comforting her, but also trying to make sure she was still there.
“D, what else can you tell us about Julian?” Sheriff asked. “Setora’s been having dreams about him. Have you? Has he ever given any indication of where he is?”
D had already gotten up off the couch and was getting a bucket from behind the nearby bar, reassuring Mayhem when he tried to keep her beside him. Mayhem shook his head at her.
“I have been having the same dreams as Setora,” she said, coming back to us, pail in hand. “But none of them ever indicated who he is or where he might be.” She set the pail down and started picking up the glass. “In the dreams, he was—”
“D, get over here and sit down, you’ll cut yourself.” Mayhem tugged her onto the couch with him. “Horse, would you call in one of the women to clean this up?” he called across the room.
“I’ll get this.” Hawk got up and went around the table, picking up the glass and putting the pieces into the pail before Horse could reach the doors.
D settled on the couch beside Mayhem, watching her daughter, her brow furrowing with concern.
“In the dreams,” she went on, looking at Sheriff, “Julian always showed up in the same strange place. An all white room with a glass table. Drinking tea, of all things.”
Setora’s gaze snapped to hers. “Me too.” She stared at all of us. “And sometimes the sky would turn strange. With a black, burning sun.”
“Exactly,” her mother rasped.
Mayhem rubbed her back, his brows practically reaching his scalp.
Kneeling on the floor, Hawk’s head shot up. He dropped the piece of glass in his hand and glanced at Setora. “That sounds like the same room you described to me before. The one he took you to the night I started teaching you the Don-Shi.” He g
lanced from her to her mother, then back to her. “You both saw the same thing.”
The women nodded silently.
Hawk put his head back down and continued cleaning up, but picking up the glass pieces slowly, as if whatever he was thinking made his movements sluggish.
Two women, miles apart, sharing the same dream? “This is fucking freaky.”
“And he never said anything that hinted where he took you? Where this room was, D?” Mayhem had moved closer to her and now put his arm around her.
“No, Master. Nothing. The dreams aren’t like normal ones; they’re vivid and…off. Like dreams one gets when having a fever. After I’ve woken up from them, when I try to go through them, to make some sense of them, it’s like trying to capture air.” D made a fist and released it for emphasis.
“Yes, exactly, Mother. Like a fever dream.”
Across the room, Doc was listening, and joined us when Sheriff waved him over. He sighed. “We do know that the sleeping state is key here. With Setora, we’ve been having to increase the dosage of Anapine. The idea was to lessen the dreams themselves with drugs, but that’s not something I want to keep doing for long. It’s too dangerous. But…” He trailed off, looking helpless.
Stitch put his hands in his pockets, looking just as lost. “But if drugs don’t keep this fuck away, I don’t know what’s left.”
“Well, maybe this is a long shot, fellas, but…” Mayhem pulled his ashtray to him and lit another cigar. The ashtray looked heavy, the crystal too weighty to have fallen when I’d cracked the table. “After D tried to escape, I sent for a specialist,” he went on. “He’s a doctor who’s renowned for his knowledge about Violets. He should be here in a couple of days or so. We’re hoping he may have some way to get a handle on this Julian.” He puffed his cigar. “Sheriff, if you and your men are willing to remain here until the specialist arrives, he may be able to provide information that would help Setora as well.”
Setora turned her gaze to Sheriff, her eyes more hopeful than they’d seemed in a long while.
“Agreed.” Sheriff nodded, closing his hand over hers. “We’ll stick around. Julian is a male Violet. If this doctor knows that much about them, there’s a chance he knows about Julian, too. And this group of women. I don’t know if that’s a long shot or what, but it gives us another possible way of getting answers. We’ll see what this specialist says, then figure out where these women are.”
