“I may be feeling a little, you know, displaced. Maybe like your Mom when I first got to Barrows Bay. Always someone younger, and prettier to catch the eye of the Chosen One. Something like that.”
“I wish you had just said so. We can now connect you to Paraiso every day all day if you want. You can do what you used to do for all of us: run the show from the shadows. You know I can’t do what you do, carrot and stick. And Vera, God bless her, just doesn’t have your talent for maintaining discipline in the ranks. We need you and we need you back now.”
“I guess …”
“And one more thing you should never forget. Our souls are entwined, entwined and inseparable. You may leave me, but you will always have a part of my soul within you. You know this; you’ve seen the awesome strength we are when we are together.”
“It seems so stupid now. I mean, I’m sorry. We used to talk about everything, but it seems like we never do that anymore.”
“Then let’s talk more. Let’s make time for us to be alone to just to talk and be with each other. My feelings for you have never changed. Never. We have this weird connection that I don’t understand at all. It’s love, but something even more primal than that. Like genetics or particle physics. But it’s there, and it’s real. I don’t need to understand it to know how much I love you. I just do, and it just is. It’s the materialist in you, and the religious in me. But it works even when you hate me at times. I’ve never minded anything you do, say or think, except this latest stuff. I’m not blaming you or anyone. I just want it to stop.”
Misti put her arms around Adam, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.
“I’ll go back to work tomorrow. Just tell me who and how to call. No more stupid shit.”
Both turned suddenly to the applause coming from the entrance to the Study.
“That was really cute. A real tear jerker. So, with the Princess and Misti off the hook, I suppose all the blame lands squarely on me.”
Misti left quietly, contemplating her future.
***
“Ah, Saldana. Saved the best for last. Won’t you come in and have a word?”
“What’s the point, Adam. If you think you can convince me to say how sorry I am or submit to your ridiculous punishment or some other stupid fucking idea of yours, you can forget it. Not happening. Did the girls just kowtow, and take their spankings like good little whores?”
“Watch your language, or I will become angry; you think you are a match for me, but you know you’re not. Not even close.”
Adam paused. Saldana was about to say something, but Adam interrupted.
“Carefully consider what you are about to say, woman. Some things cannot be taken back or forgiven. Start down this path, and I can s assure you that the only one unhappier than me will be you.
“And no, they didn’t rat you out, blame you or try to do anything of the sort except say they would cease this childish game. We just sat, and talked, and sorted it out. You seem to be so angry at me and, so intent on diverting my attention from training and things that do matter, that I might think it was intentional. You sold out to who? The Collective? The Creator? Wish to be the goddess in charge of Earth? Is that what this is all about? Chip, chip, chip.”
“If that were true, you’d know it, Chosen of Chosen. That’s such complete bullshit coming from you.”
“Then one of my other theories is that from the very start you have thought you should be in charge. I’m not capable enough, not smart enough, too soft, too forgiving and certainly lacking your leadership skills. Is that what’s bothering you, we win only if you are in charge?”
“Not far off and most certainly true.”
“But who would follow you? I mean you have all these great qualities, which you know deep down inside, are the only reasons you’re still alive. The people, plain and simple, my wives included, except Kendra, all hate you. Have from the very beginning. The only doubt they have of my leadership ever, came from trying to understand why I keep you alive, number one, and why the fuck did I marry you, number two. You may be better at everything as you suggest and a lot smarter than me, but you’d be an army of one. Your own troops would probably kill you if they didn’t fear me more than you.”
“Clever nonsense.”
“No, truth. And we don’t need to go into the timing you so carefully omit. Let’s start by telling some truths, shall we? Where’s your home, and where’s your family? Who’s your family?”
Silence.
“Cat got your tongue? You have no home, no family and no one to call for advice. You ran away from your Clan. You tortured your sister. You were defeated by me, and the Black Shirts are no longer. You literally have no place to hide. Maybe a safe house somewhere but, if I came after you, you’d be found out right quick. Money? Probably only a little hidden somewhere safe. Maybe your best play is to see me fail, but when I do, so do you. The Creator won’t put you on the throne, that’s for sure. Here’s what I really think.”
“This should be good,” Saldana said sarcastically.
“You know for once, Saldana, you would be well advised to sit on the sofa and be fucking silent like a good little girl.”
“Fuck you, Adam the Chosen One. When you fight, Paulo he will take your head, then everyone dear to you will be dead and fast. The Creator will do whatever the Creator wants or will start again after her pet Hecate kills you and pikes your fucking head somewhere. Either way, you’re dead. I may or may not be. Besides, this has all been a ruse. You don’t love me; you never have. You just want to use me. Just like all men.”
“Good. We finally are getting to the crux of the matter. What this is all about. Now, tell me where I’m wrong.”
Adam sat back and began his assessment of the real Saldana Ri.
Chapter 10
“Why did you leave your Clan, your family and your home at age twelve with your sister with only the clothes on your back?”
“You’re so smart, you tell me.”
“Because among the Gens Clans of the world, probably the most brutal and hated was your Clan, the Shen-do of Mongolia. Brutal, they have no real family structure. Children are born and thrown into a pen. Those that fight, and survive might make it to adulthood, but the rules of dominance are for males only. And tell me what happens when young girls arrive at puberty, Saldana? Or before if they are attractive and catch the eye of the male warrior class. What fate awaited you and your sister? You knew you were not far off from your time and had to leave. But two wild Gens girls in Shen-do territory would be hunted down, cruelly punished and used in the foulest of ways. You heard of this thing called transformation, and there was a human city only a hundred miles away. Your plan was simple; escape, transform, learn the ways of the humans, and survive. Close so far?”
Silence thundered in the room.
“You found an old man, took his blood and money, killed him and then waited to transform. It was painful and frightening, but at least you, and Calista were alive. You stole clothing and money and hopped a train getting as far away as you could. You feared spies in town; you smelled your fellow Gens all around you. You discovered young girls could gather coin doing one simple thing you thought nothing of. There was no analog in Gens culture, so it wasn’t forbidden. You landed in China, learned the language then met someone fortuitously. An American woman; an archeologist who took a liking to the two young orphans, and took them in. When her dig ended, she adopted you both and took you home to Chicago. She had done this before; you’d seen pictures and expected a large crowd greeting you and ‘Mom’ at the airport and at home. Few children were in evidence and none were at the airport.
“Her name was Indira Ri. She wasn’t the altruistic academic you thought she was. She was something else, something else entirely evil. She forced you and your sister to recruit for her side business and was quite harsh with the two of you when quotas weren’t met, or rules broken. She whipped the two of you so hard one night for the one thing she feared: the police showing up a
t your door inquiring about a missing child. A neighbor thought she saw something, but since Indira Ri was a respected academic, the whole matter was dropped.
“You and your sister survived, but the young missing girl was sold into a prostitution ring in LA. She survived two more years, then took her own life. You and Calista remained alive but, once again, you knew you had to run. There were no older girls working for Indira Ri. Neither you nor your sister would live much longer, so you took what money you could find, stole the rest from Indira, and took the first bus out of town. You went south to Texas, to Austin where you learned on your own, true auto-didacts, forged false papers of an out-of-state GED and got into junior college. You went to UT Austin; your sister got a scholarship to USC. There she met an exchange student, Robert Gold from South Africa and left America with him. He became a research biologist and doctor and she was happy for a while. He was Gens, but not of your politics. Since she never loved him anyway, she killed him to prevent him from outing the two of you.
“You had both been involved in the Black Shirt Movement quietly, but you needed to get rid of your last names quietly. Surely Indira wouldn’t let your treachery go unpunished, so when the incident with Eaton occurred, you married him, and you were now formally known as ‘Sally Gray’.
“Then, fuck all, you got pregnant which was supposed to be impossible. What you didn’t know was that you are special, and you could get pregnant by a human. And a special human with specific genetic makeup. One in a million, but that fortuity was Eaton Gray. And your children are also special too, but you didn’t know that either.
“It’s not like having children with me, but still powerful kids who could someday have powerful abilities. Were you planning on killing the three of them, and Eaton too, or just Eaton?”
“I planned a lot of things I never did. I never gave the order to PMO or his psycho mate to eliminate any of my family. I just couldn’t do it. Ask PMO, if he still lives. They were number two on my hit list, but I kept moving them to the back of the line.”
“I have already told them. What you say is true. I wondered why though; so, does Eaton.”
“I loved them. For a while. I owed him my life. Had to count for something.”
“And now, what’s this game all about? Am I in the crosshairs for some long-range chess game? Next on the list or is it something else? Something more fundamental and so frightening that you want to get ahead of the emotional game?”
“Now you’re a shrink?”
“Nope. And I don’t play one on TV either. But you’re scared. Scared to death. That’s what this is really all about. Abandonment and rejection. Push us all away first to make us throw you out and then you have the perfect self-fulfilling prophecy. No hard work, no fighting with me or your fellow wives, just get knocked up and sent to a far-off place in Paraiso. Maybe the life of a recluse or give your child up to me, the father, and be safe and left alone. No emotional attachments, no fear and no emotional agony that something someday will change and you will be hurt once again. But no more pain. No more chances that I don’t love you, won’t fight for you or care for you. No more taking chances on humans or Gens. You used to want to punish both species, but now you just want to be safe. Safe inside, free from pain and fear. To belong somewhere, if not to someone.
“This is what drives your thoughts; the ridiculous belief that this is transitory and will all go away when you aren’t needed anymore. You want proof, proof that that this is real and nothing will change.
“But I suspect you don’t even really know why you are doing this, do you? Everything seems fine. Some weird test of tolerance? What will he do? Punish me like Indira? Reject our children like your Clan? You wanted to find out sooner rather than later, or so you thought. But the hormones got in the way. The best you could think of, that wasn’t too drastic for Misti or too worrisome for Kendra, was this food nonsense. So, you went with it.”
Saldana said nothing. She expected something harsh and equal to the stupid shit she was trying to pull. She expected confinement at least, notwithstanding Adam’s protestations earlier to the contrary. She thought those were mere trickery to make her fess up.
Adam continued, “Here’s the deal. There’s no confinement, no punishment, and no retribution. Never was; it was all made up to make you admit what this nonsense was really about. I love you, and the little one is in pain; pain you caused with this silly test. She loves and admires you, and this stupid shit has made her feel the need to test boundaries and loyalties between the two people she loves the most. You owe her an apology.”
“And you,” she said in a softer, more conciliatory tone. “What is my fate with you?”
“I will reduce my kisses with you daily for a week from infinity to one million. You were the mastermind of this foolishness and deserve a strict punishment.”
“Will I receive corporal too?”
“Of course, and harshly. But why do you consider it a punishment when you enjoy it so much?”
“Hard to explain. Just want to seem like it would be ... normal for a community like this. I need to feel something, positive or negative. When you punish me during congress, at least I feel something. I’m alive. I could scream in agony if you wish. The Gens males and females would respect you more for keeping your woman in line. Just a thought, maybe a nice touch for the local folk.”
Saldana turned to leave.
“Saldana?”
“Yes, husband.”
“I love you and would never abandon you. You will always be at my side, as will the little one. In the vast array of choices within us each day, you may choose to believe me or not. I hope you do.”
“Tomorrow at breakfast, you must explain this notion of choices and happiness. I truly don’t understand them. Or you. I only understand survival.”
***
Saldana was unexpectedly met outside the Study doors by Misti and Kendra. Her look was quizzical.
“Why … are you …”
“We feared a fist fight and might need to enter fast to protect Adam. And maybe because we love you just a tiny bit. Except Kendra, who loves you whole a lot. We all should’ve known better.”
“I won’t cry, no matter what you say. These aren’t tears in the corner of my eyes. I’m Saldana Ri, leader of the Black Shirt Movement and I am the meanest woman on Earth.”
Misti said, “You were all those things. Now you are a wife to the Manti, beloved among all of us who truly know you. His family, his wives and most of all, him.”
Kendra said, “We know you are one tough muther …” Then she laughed. “Except in congress. Shall I tell Misti who rules your body then?”
Saldana shouted, “Don’t you dare!”
“Then, next time we’re alone, I have new matters of pleasure to introduce to you, my sweet. Do you consent blindly and willingly?”
“Here, in public?”
“Yes, you must, as proof of love. And as penance.”
Saldana bitterly said, “Yes, I swear. But this is cruel. And I assume you have even more harsh punishment planned?”
Kendra said, “Of course! How else could I prove my love to you if I didn’t.”
“I may have taught you too well.”
Kendra smiled and kissed her lover. Then she said, conspiratorially, to Misti and Saldana, “I have just enough time before I must serve husband, and Beata the Screamer.”
“Must?”
“I lied. I’m wet with anticipation. But he, so enjoys that I must say certain things to him and I do so for his pleasure. If you wish, I can teach you the ones he loves the most.”
Misti, of course knew them all and more, but she didn’t wish to crush Kendra’s excitement.
“We would love to learn these enhancements; we are apt learners,” Misti said. Saldana nodded. Saldana had her own words, but then those were between her and her husband.
Kendra continued, “But you two may carry on after I leave. Perhaps I may rejoin you later? He will wish to pleasure Beata long in
to the night. He so enjoys her loud nature when she reaches climax.”
“We shall eagerly await your return, my little Princess.”
Chapter 11
Breakfast the next morning was late, as all participants from the night before had gone back, and forth between quarters until they all eventually ended up with Adam on his giant bed. Until that evening, none of the ladies had considered Beata to be much more than ‘one of the thirty’, a sweet confection and dulcet pastime for Adam, and perhaps Kendra. But Misti and Saldana were now taken by her beauty, youth, erotic aptitude, and enthusiasm. Misti later admitted her shock, and delight at Beata’s willingness, and ability, to absorb her lessons quickly and without question.
Saldana even introduced Beata to some of her more rare and exotic pleasures which Beata loved almost as much as Kendra. They uncovered the secret of her screams; she loved her sexual pleasures, whether the source was male or female. Though raised as a Gens, she adapted well to transformation to human form, and she preferred it to life as a Gens in natural state. This whole business of erotic pleasures only made her decision more exciting and she fantasized about her time with the Manti, and his promise to wed. She loved her female companions in congress too, especially now that she pleasured with Adam’ three wives who were most skilled and thoughtful lovers.
She had to admit, though, that her congress with the Manti was her favorite, and she longed for his kisses, touch and skills that seemed to cause this physical excitement, and pleasurable reaction in her many times and in many ways. He truly was the giver of pleasure, and she would gladly do as he commanded in return. But he commanded nothing, which she found odd. He asked her for things and said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. The Manti! Imagine, she thought, Please and Thank You for obligations she was willing and happy to do to please him at his command. There were no such words in the Common Tongue, though in transformed state, the Gens were adopting more, and more of the human mannerisms and etiquette they found pleasing.
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