Tempest

by Shakir Rashaan

  Neferterri must have sensed a need for the three of us to be alone, because she silently beckoned us to the side of the tub. “I have a surprise for tomorrow night, and I’m going to need your help with that. We will revisit that once you’re done pampering Me, so let’s get to it. I have another pressing appointment that I’ll need energy for.”

  TWENTY-THREE RAMESSES

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!”

  Carl Jung once said, “The healthy man does not torture…generally it’s the tortured who turn into the torturers.”

  If I was a tortured soul, it was because the culmination of events turned me into one. By Jung’s phrasing, I had become a torturer because of the circumstances that turned me into the tortured.

  Death was too good for what he tried to do to my Beloved, but torturing him to within an inch of it would have to suffice.

  I had Lyrical tied down to an inverted St. Andrews Cross, giving me the ability to lay him in a supine position and to give me full range of his body. I planned to abuse every inch until I got tired, and I was wide awake with plenty of energy.

  I was beyond the point of sadism now. Some would argue that there is no difference between sadism and intolerable cruelty, but I was not in the mood to argue the point. The only thing that mattered to me was to quiet the storm, the unbridled tempest within me. He needed to suffer, and he needed to suffer by my hand, and no force on this planet was going to stop me.

  Not even Amenhotep…

  I would leave Korina to my Beloved to deal with as she wanted, but I had plans for Lyrical. Those plans included watching him bleed until I had no choice but to see him to a medical facility in Nassau.

  I took a knife to the inside of his thigh, careful not to pierce the femoral artery. I didn’t want him to bleed out, at least not yet, anyway. Hearing his screams meant nothing to my desires to watch him flirt with the edges of consciousness, fading in and out like the flicker of a flame.

  “Mercy!” Lyrical screamed out, his voice doing nothing more than reverberating against the walls of one of the underground panic rooms, built in the event of a hurricane. I slid another knife through his hand, watching it protrude through the muscle and bone, inducing another blood-curdling scream.

  “It’s funny how the guilty scream out for mercy when they become the victim.” I leaned down over his face as I twisted the blade in his hand. “Did You hear my Beloved when She screamed out?!?!?! Did You hear Her when She screamed for You to let Her go?!?!!?”

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!” The bass in his voice was leaving him, sounding more like a child than a man. The volume increased as I took the knife out of his thigh and plunged it in his abdomen, just below his ribcage. He whimpered once I took my hand off the hilt. “Why are You doing this to Me?!?! You could’ve sent Me to the police?!?!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry? You have Me confused with someone who actually believes You will get the proper justice.” I stared into his eyes, satisfied with the genuine fear I saw in them. “We’re not in the States, partner, and we’re not in anyone’s criminal jurisdiction, which means, I could turn You over to the proper authorities in Nassau, but that means at least another six months until a trial comes around, and that also means I would have to endure You trying to come up with some bullshit defense strategy and watch My Beloved take the stand. That, Sir, I cannot allow.”

  Through clenched teeth, Lyrical tried to sound like we were in some sort of bad crime show. “You won’t get away with this, Ramesses! I have friends who will ruin You if You kill Me!”

  “I’d love to see them try it, especially since we’ve already had You checked out, Travis Prater.” I was crossing the line by using his legal name, but he had to know that I was serious about my threats. “Besides, You sound like death is the end of this journey. You’ll die, but not anytime soon. There are fates worse than death.”

  Lyrical’s eyes focused on me, and as I returned his glare, he noticed the lack of fear in my eyes. I, however, recognized the terror in his. The unknown of what I was capable of doing to him became evident as his body language contradicted the bravado he tried to portray.

  “Do I need to prove that Your threats mean nothing to Me? Or do I need to explain to You that the friends that You claim will ruin Me are in debt to a few friends of Master Osiris’s in Moscow?” I asked. “I’m not bluffing, and You know I’m not, either, don’t You?”

  The recognition of the Moscow connection shook him to the core. He strained against his bonds with more fervor this time around, almost dislocating his shoulder in the process. “Please, I’ll do whatever You want to make this right! Please, let Me make things right!”

  “We’re a little late in the game for that, Lyrical.” I turned around as I heard a voice from behind me. I wasn’t sure to smile or not because I needed to keep my edge and advantage over him. Master Osiris entered the room, his face showing the disdain for both Lyrical and the circumstances under which we were here. “You’ve pushed a fellow brother into a position that He did not need to be in had You simply followed one simple rule: ‘Master Thyself.’ Now, You have not only enraged Ramesses; You’ve enraged the Society. There are ways that we deal with Your transgressions.”

  “What…what do You…mean?” Lyrical asked, coughing up blood from his mouth, alerting me that he needed to be sent to the medical tent to be patched up. “You’re doing all this for a woman? Are You serious?”

  That statement brought a right fist clean across his jaw, hearing the bone-crushing sound of its breakage. “Then I guess You won’t mind if we have done to You what You tried to do to a woman, since You seem to think it’s not a big deal.”

  Lyrical gurgled and moaned from the sharp pains rushing to the broken area. I reared back for another strike when Osiris held my arm, keeping it from a second arrival at the same destination. He kept me there until I relented, finally releasing his grip when I stepped away from the vicinity of the Cross.

  “You seem to have a bit of a problem moving Your mouth now that it’s been popped out of socket, so all You need to do is listen,” Osiris spoke, not caring one way or the other whether Lyrical answered or not. He cut Lyrical’s wrists loose before he said another word. “In about ten minutes, Dominic and his sweeper team will come in, gather what’s left of You, and take You to the yacht. Once there, the medical team that is in place will patch up Your wounds, make sure You’re able to travel, and escort You to the private airport in Nassau. Once on the plane, You will be blindfolded, as to keep You from realizing where You’re being flown to, and upon reaching Your destination, You will be sedated and placed in Your new locale, along with the corresponding information with regard to Your new home, occupation, and citizenship within Your new country. You will never set foot on U.S. soil again.”

  Holding his jaw in place to try and talk, Lyrical’s protests sounded more like desperation than demands. It was almost comical to hear him talk and not move his jaw at the same time. We could barely make out the words he said because he grimaced every time he spoke. “You can’t do this! You just said we weren’t in the States! What You’re doing is illegal!”

  “No it isn’t, and to be honest, we’re doing You a favor,” I chimed in, trying to convey to Lyrical the gravity of the situation. “In fact, the Russians are interested in extracting You to help Your friends settle a debt. You know, the same ‘friends’ that were supposed to ruin Me if I killed You?”

  “What…what do they want?” Lyrical asked. The nervousness in his voice was palpable as he awaited my answer.

  “Well, as I understand the situation, they’ve already ‘disappeared’ because they were unable to pay off the debt, which I’ve found out is somewhere around seven figures. They gave You up the first chance they got to try and avoid disappearing. Needless to say, it didn’t work.” I recounted from the conversations while digging into his past.

  “So, it sounds to Me like You have an easy choice, Sir, and I’m only going to offer this onc
e.” Osiris leaned in close so Lyrical could hear his words clearly. “You can either take our offer of mercy, or You can take Your chances when we turn You over to the Russians. The choice is Yours. You have three minutes to make a decision. When You do, knock three times on the Cross You’re on to let us know You’ve decided to live. If You don’t, we’ll send Dominic and there won’t be another word to be said.”

  We left the room, heading outside to meet up with Dominic, who happened to be sitting outside with the sweeper team in question. “Do You think He’s stupid enough to not take the deal?”

  “We’ll know in about ninety seconds.” I checked my watch, looking toward the room for a decision one way or the other. “Hopefully He isn’t that stupid. He’s playing a high-stakes game of roulette thinking He’ll get out of this scot-free.”

  A few seconds later, we heard three knocks against the wood of the Cross, followed by yelling to make sure we heard him.

  “I guess He wants to live.” Osiris chuckled. “Too bad the alternative isn’t as desirable.”

  Dominic looked at Osiris, confused as to what he’d missed out on. “I don’t get it, Sir.

  What was his alternative?”

  “Colombia, Sir,” Osiris replied. “He’ll be living in the slums while working for the Marquez Cartel. He won’t last a month before they kill Him.”

  “Damn, remind Me never to piss off any member of the Society, okay?” Dominic shook his head. The Colombian drug cartels had a reputation for abusing outsiders if they didn’t get with the program right out of the gate. “I knew You had a temper when we were younger, but damn, I thought old age would have mellowed You out. And what happened to ‘Master Thyself,’ huh?”

  “We’re Masters, not Saints, Dom.” I laughed. He might not have found it so funny, but I thought it was hilarious. “It might sound cruel, but sometimes things have to be done in order to make an example of what not to do. Consider this merciful, for the most part.”

  The yelling continued along with the knocking, drawing our attention back to Lyrical. Dominic looked at me and stated, “Well, don’t just stand there, Gentlemen, You have a magic trick to execute: making a Dominant disappear without the authorities being the wiser.”

  “That’s not the only trick we have to execute tonight, Dom.” I winked at him as Osiris and I head toward the door. “There’s one more piece of trash that needs to be removed before I make things right with My family.”

  TWENTY-FOUR NEFERTERRI

  “I didn’t mean for…He was only supposed to seduce You!”

  Thanks to amani and the girls, I felt like a new woman.

  I was so elated when amani told me during the menstrual service that my cycle had completed that I fucked him on the spot the minute he was done. After we’d finished, I sent him on another task while the girls and I prepared for a special undertaking.

  Now that I had my faculties again, this bitch was going to pay dearly for what she did, and my girls would play an integral part in this particular sequence of events.

  The funniest thing was she could have had him if she’d simply respected my position as the Lady of the House.

  I really did hate women who didn’t know their place. Hate is a strong word to use, but I hated her.

  No, I didn’t hate her. If I hated her, that would have meant I wanted to be like her, and nothing could be further from the truth. So, maybe hate was a strong term to use.

  I wasn’t about to invite the bitch to high tea, either, that’s for damn sure.

  I had her “escorted” to where I was because we needed to have a woman-to-woman chat about a few things. She wasn’t exactly escorted, to be honest. Actually, she was abducted from her cabin after being drugged. She had to know her time was coming once rumors around the island ran rampant that Lyrical couldn’t be found. Considering I knew her partner in crime was being dealt with by Dominic, and I had a feeling my Beloved would be involved, too, that meant the woman in the equation needed to be dealt with by me.

  Oh, she was about to get dealt with, all right.

  I was incensed when Dominic told me of the scheme between them to separate my Beloved and me. I’d heard of some low-down, ignorant shit to do, but to conspire to break a couple up, especially in a sex-positive atmosphere that we lived in, was beyond reprehensible. Once I told shamise and sajira what had occurred, they were more than happy to oblige my desires to work Korina over before disposing of her.

  She needed to be taught a lesson for trying to put asunder what no woman had cause to do.

  The look in Korina’s eyes conveyed her fear of what I might do.

  The look in my eyes confirmed her fears were more than justified.

  “So, instead of being a real woman, and a so-called Dominant at that, and coming to Me to say You wanted to sex My Beloved, You decided to be a little girl and play childish games with the intent of trying to replace Me. Does that about cover it?” I wanted to get the gist of what she thought she wanted. I needed to see if she had the guts to be real with me.

  “Neferterri, please, it wasn’t supposed to go down like that.” Korina tried to plead her case, and given the predicament she was in, she had reason to try.

  Being suspended upside down against a metallic spider web when she finally regained consciousness while at the mercy of a “Black Widow” and her henchwomen might make a person a little nervous.

  “So, how exactly was it supposed to go down, Korina?” I asked. I nodded in shamise’s direction, giving her silent permission to use the instrument in her hand.

  Korina’s eyes shot over to her left, where shamise had an attachment of the violent wand shaped like a devil’s pitchfork. shamise moved the attachment closer to her skin, watching the purple-hued electrical current begin to surge from the attachment onto her flesh.

  Korina’s screams were music to my ears. shamise kept the attachment near her skin, watching the current course through her body. For the first pass, she took care to avoid the sensitive areas that might cause arrest, keeping the current in her lower extremities. She did, however, keep the setting at maximum. That meant no matter where she put the attachment, Korina would be in for the shock of a lifetime.

  A few seconds later, shamise took the attachment off.

  “You were saying about something not going down the way it was supposed to go, right?” I reiterated her words. “Before You answer, let Me alert You to something: You are suspended on a metallic apparatus while being shocked by an electrical device that, if I commanded My baby girl to do so, can be placed over Your heart and cause You to go into cardiac arrest.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I assure You, Korina, I’m not bluffing.” I raked my fingers through sajira’s hair, stroking her like the kitten she was. “You see, You threatened Our submissives’ peace of mind by trying to split apart their Daddy and Goddess. Now, they know We have Our moments where We might fight and be angry with each other, but they also know that We will always make things right and get back to what We do best. You have threatened that balance, and for that, You must suffer.”

  “You can’t do this!” She screamed.

  “Is that Your final statement? My baby girl is getting a little itchy to follow through on My command.”

  Korina thought it over for a few moments, looking into shamise’s wild eyes and realizing she was in an untenable situation.

  “Time’s up, Korina.”

  “Nooooooooo!!!! Okay, okay!!!! It was My idea, all right? I wanted Your husband for Myself, dammit! Are You fucking happy now?!?!” She screamed. shamise acted like she didn’t hear the confession and continued moving closer to Korina with the attachment aimed right for her heart. “I told You what You wanted to know! Get her to stop, please!!!”

  “See, now that wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” I teased as I shook my head in shamise’s direction. She stepped away from Korina and turned off the violent wand, the look on her face giving away her disappointment in not inflicting any more pain.

&
nbsp; I swear she had her sadistic moments. She’d been paying more attention to me than I’d realized.

  Korina tried to control her breathing, but she realized how close she came to closing her eyes for the final time in her life. Her naked chest heaved as she tried to get the words out in a feigned defiance. “You’re…lucky I’m…chained…up like…this!”

  “And You’re lucky I’m in a merciful mood,” I retorted, ready to completely lose my sense of decorum around her. “I don’t want to see You, or even hear about You, being around anyone or anything connected to Me, or so help Me I’ll have You brought up on charges of conspiracy to commit rape and make sure Your life is a living hell.”

  Korina scoffed. “I’ll do whatever I damn well please, and I’ll make sure You pay for what You and Your girls have done to Me. You think You’re the only one who has friends in low places? This won’t be the last time You see Me, bitch!”

  Before sajira could catch me and before shamise could step in the way, I moved to where she was suspended and landed a sweeping kick to the side of her face, knocking her out cold. I continued to knee and punch into her abdomen before the girls caught my arms in midflight and pulled me away from her limp body.

  “Goddess, we’ll handle it!” I heard shamise scream. “i’m calling the sweeper team to take her away now!”

  sajira loudly echoed her sister’s sentiment. “She won’t be found where She’s going, and that’s a promise!”

  The next thing I heard was shamise’s voice on the radio calling in the sweeper team. Minutes later, Dominic showed up with the rest of his team, and the only question he asked was, “Mercy or no mercy?”

  “No mercy,” I spat, still angered by Korina’s defiance after I’d spared her. The more I thought about it, the more I realized death was too good a price for her to pay. Dead women cannot show remorse. Tortured women, however, could sing a dozen tales, and I knew exactly where she could sing, too. “Does Seti still have His connections in North Africa?”